Otaku Four  Skysaber's Choice
by Skysaber
Summary: Given some leave from saving the universe, our superspy gets to relax... and save the universe again!
1. Chapter 1

Skysaber's Choice  
Episode One, Part One

Vacation Shopping Turned Vile

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

Disclaimer: I can't make up any excuses. There are no excuses. So go ahead, HAVE fun, see if *I* care! (blubbering) It's not as if this isn't written for you to enjoy yourself!

OoOoO

Humming merrily to himself, Jared Ornstead stepped into what he *thought* was his favorite shop in the mall and came into what was obviously the wrong place. He turned around to leave the small, cluttered space for something more hospitable when a voice came in clipped, British accent from behind the counter.

"Can I help you, sir?"

Jared shook his redhaired head. "Thank you, but no. I've only another thirty minutes and desire to spend it in the company of delicious books, beautiful videos, and the occasional RPG tome. Ta-tah!"

He reached for the door handle out with the hand not currently holding his backpack.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to leave, sir. The doors are magically locked. Much like valet parking, sir. Once entered, you must make a purchase to get out."

The redhead looked back over his shoulder at the shopkeeper. "Is it worth it?"

"Could be, sir. We carry most everything you like."

The young redhead caught the name of the store on a plaque. "Spells R Us? I've heard of this place. Nothing good. You might say I've been warned that the owner is a mage who takes his fancy inflicting mayhem."

"Very possibly. I, however, am merely an apprentice of his. He's on vacation. We *did* have a demon in here working the desk, but apparently he gave in to some inexplicable impulse and failed to be sufficiently nasty. I *would* be willing to at least give you a sporting chance, sir. We do have rules of our own to live by."

"The old English sense of fair play?"

"Quite."

"I've heard that most everything in here is transformative. Could you at least confirm that?"

"Certainly sir, you are correct. Most of the items *do* serve that purpose. None of them take effect until after they are put to use. We have the occasional shoplifter, but you may rest assured that all items do get paid for." The man said with a nasty smirk. "Promptly."

"Well, let us begin at the beginning." Jared rubbed his hands together, stepping toward the counter. The shop was divided into approximate equal halves, with candy and racks of costumes on his side, while boxes of various paraphernalia stood in racks behind the counter. He'd designed a shop or two like this himself, all the interesting (and *every* potentially useful) bit would be behind the counter where the customer couldn't easily get at it.

The shopkeeper tensed. "Very good, sir. What would you like?"

"What about a Big Hunk bar?"

"Never have those till the end of the week."

"As expected. Well, that does in my limited desire for sweets. How are you for books?"

"We have quite a broad selection."

"Am I right in thinking that while the title is important the actual storyline has some bearing?"

The man behind the counter winced. "In the case of a magazine, no. But in the case of something with a definite plot, yes, the title is not the only consideration. Most people aren't supposed to know that."

Jared smelled triumph. "Do you have The High Tech Knight, by Leo Frankowski?"

"Is this about cybernetics, sir?"

"No, as a matter of fact it's about a man with vast engineering expertise getting a brief hop back in time; gaining noble title, women, wealth, and becoming the defacto ruler of medieval Europe with very little opposition. Very much like a happy version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."

The shopkeeper sweated slightly, then turned and gave a brief and totally inadequate check on the bookshelves. "No, we don't seem to keep it in stock."

"The Radiant Warrior in the same series?"

"Get it fresh on Monday."

"I am inclined to wait."

"Ooops. Gads. I was mistaken. We don't carry books here, sorry."

"You sure?"

"Quite."

"Not, Dragon's Companion, by Don Callander?"

"No, sir."

"Not, Pyromancer, by the same author, or The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs?"

"I'm afraid not." The counterperson replied flatly.

The redhead's eyes twinkled merrily. "Ah. Never you mind. What about High Crusade, by Poul Anderson?"

The shopkeeper felt a brief moment of curiosity. "And what would that be, sir?"

"Ah, well you see, it's very much the reverse of that wonderful book I mentioned earlier. You see in this case a starship full of aliens lands back in medieval England, vastly underestimates the ferocity of the native inhabitants, ends up with a cavalry charge up the main ramp into the body of their starship, which leads to an accident where the entire town and their abbey are transported into space where they have no choice but to successfully decimate the alien empire and conquer it for the greater glory of God and Great Britain, suffering almost no casualties in so doing."

"Ah." The Englishman fought hard against the odd appeal of that thought. "No. As I said, we don't carry any books here."

"Really? I think I see some right there over your shoulder."

"Purely window dressing, sir. They're not for sale."

Jared fingered the straps on his backpack and eyed the door as if considering. "Then what *is* for sale here?"

"Just about everything else, sir."

"For example?"

"We've got videos, sir."

"Real Genius?"

"No."

"The Saint?"

"Specifically forbidden to stock that item, sir."

"How about 'The Best of 007'?"

"Rerecorded over it last night with a copy of Barney. I'd be willing to give it to you at a discount."

"You are joking? Thank you, but no. Ah! Another excellent title. What about The Wizard of Speed and Time?"

"Against union rules to carry that sort of thing, sir."

"Truly? A delightful movie."

"I'll take your word for that, sir. How about a copy of The Sorcerer's Apprentice instead?"

"I'm allergic to being small, with round ears, and named Mickey." The customer retorted dryly.

"I take it you've seen the movie then, sir."

"Quite." Jared deadpanned. "Oh well. I suppose there's nothing for it but to begin scraping the bottom of the barrel. Do you have a copy of Superman, by any chance?"

The shopkeeper's eyes bugged. He stuttered a minute before recovering himself and coughing into his hand. "Uh, no."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Not worth just looking?"

"Definitely not."

"Well, I don't suppose you carry Dragonslayer, IQ, The Immortals, Merlin, Dragon Half, or The Mystic Masters of China, by any chance?"

Looking slightly pale the shopkeeper reached one hand under the counter and rattled it around uselessly, quickly terminating his pretend search. "Sorry, we seem to be right out of videos."

"I thought you said you had plenty."

"Sorry, brief magnetic pulse wiped them all out. No help for it."

Jared leaned an elbow on the counter. "Look, I'm getting a bit fed up with this. Are you quite sure you've got any merchandise in here at all?"

"Quite. Just look around you, sir. Shop's full of it."

"So I can see."

"No, I mean we've got a staggering variety of merchandise, just take your pick." The shopkeeper waved to the shelves.

Jared glanced significantly at the door. "Are you certain that spell will hold me if I can legitimately not find anything I'd care to buy?"

"Uh..." The apprentice adjusted his collar. "Look, if you'd care to look around..."

"And *should* there be an obligation to buy in spite of that what is to stop me from taking and detonating a small purchase harmlessly? For example taking that rather convenient box of girl scout cookies and feeding them to an actual girl scout? Or are they not for sale as well, for some mysterious and unguessable reason?" He asked quite dryly, drumming his fingers on the counter.

"Would you like a Scandinavian, sir? Fascinating taste."

"Where do you think the name Ornstead comes from? Tibet? But while I could claim that ancestry I'd rather not play with the other likely effects."

The shopkeeper stood there helplessly.

Jared sighed, stepping back from the counter. He eyed the door. He might as well get this over with. "Look, I stated three interests when I came in here and you claimed quite openly that you could fill them. I am willing to speculate that if I state the third one and you claim not to have it the shop's own magic will do something rather a bit nasty to you. Fair guess?"

The apprentice appeared nervous. "Could be, sir."

"How well set up are you for RPG supplies?"

"We carry practically everything, sir."

"So you said before."

"In this case it's true, sir."

"Heroes Unlimited?"

"Ahhh... No. Sorry, sir. Just caught us out."

"Oh, never mind. How are you for Marvel Superheroes?"

"Would you take Villains Unlimited instead?"

"No. But you never said if you had my request."

"No, it seems to have scampered away off the shelf while we were talking. Take me weeks to find it."

"Weeks I have."

"Oh dear. The cat's eaten it."

"I won't ask you what kind of cat you have to eat a softbound rulebook."

"Wise of you, sir."

"Is the Ultimate Powers rule supplement for that game out of the question?"

The shopkeeper spent a few moments choking. Looking quite pale the man shook his head that it to was not available.

"Deities and Demigods?"

The shopkeeper spent minutes hacking but indicated that that also was unavailable.

"Never mind then, how about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?"

The by now pasty face of the apprentice broke in the wide grin of a soul redeemed.

Jared snapped his fingers as if remembering something. "Ooops, too bad, already have too many copies."

The man fell down behind his counter.

"Ninjas and Superspies?" Jared leaned over to ask.

A sign emerged, held weakly in a trembling hand. [Haven't got it in stock.]

Jared nodded. "Ah. I see you have Genma's panda signs. Well, what about Interstellar Pig?"

The man rose from his crumpled position to look at him askance.

Jared smiled. "Ah. I see. I was only kidding, of course. This is not the sort of place to buy gag gifts for Ryoga. Well then, a blank sheet of paper if you please."

With a suspicious sidelong glance the shopkeeper procured from the rack a small pack of lined paper and slid it across the counter.

With a confident smirk Jared paid for the purchase and tore open the package, producing a pencil and a clipboard from his backpack he took some notes and began to transcribe.

"What are you doing?" The clerk regained enough curiosity to ask.

"Well, I figured that this stuff was going to change me according to whatever I wrote on it. Something to tempt me to inscribe a horror story, no doubt, or change me into a basket of fresh oranges if I made out a grocery list, something like that. So I am going to fill it in before I get that urge."

The clerk shrugged. The purchase had been made. He was no longer involved in it, but he was curious as to the outcome. He leaned forward. "So what are you doing?"

Jared shrugged, not looking up from his work. "Just a mundane and ordinary task. My favorite First Edition D&D character was getting a little worn so I am transferring him to this new sheet of paper."

"You what?" The shopkeeper choked out.

Jared smiled. "Oh, I'm making a few changes, of course. Trivial stuff, really. Instead of saying 'name of player' and 'name of character' I'm adopting an older convention and listing my name under 'name' and his under 'alias', which should, if I'm thinking right, merge us seamlessly instead of having a two-brains-in-one-head sortuv backseat driver arrangement. After all, you *did* say you'd give me a sporting chance."

The clerk nodded. "Fair enough, sir. What kind of character is he?"

Jared smiled more broadly, continuing to write swiftly and carefully. "Now that is the amazing thing. I started this guy as a whim, something to annoy the other players. They tend to rely on me to play spellcasters and so I started a guy with no spells of any kind. Just to be perverse I grabbed two classes from Oriental Adventures, a monk and a Kensai, and made him double-classed."

This didn't convey much meaning to the shopkeeper.

Jared glanced from under his eyebrows. "I was unprepared for how successful a combination it was. I had the only first level character in the party who could, and did, kill ogres at a blow, and more often by skill than by accident. Later on he grew to be able to do more impressive things. Somewhere after eleventh level he became the only character I've ever known to kill two thousand ghouls in a single round in hand to hand combat without using magic. It's all perfectly legal, too. I could show you the rules and walk you through how he did it."

The apprentice began to feel a certain unease about this.

Jared finished the first page and went on to another, placing the first securely in his pack, carefully titling each as he went.

"The *truly* amusing thing," Jared went on, "is that I never set out to make him powerful. I mean, I've done that, where I've tweaked the rules and played up every advantage I could to get a guy formidable. I'm told I am somewhat good at it. But this guy just seemed to have the most amazing luck. I wasn't *trying* to make him tough, I was looking to play something amusing. But every time we came across something, like a random magic book or a well of strange powers, he would benefit powerfully instead of getting turned into a toad or whatnot. He just seemed to lead a charmed life. Like when he was maxed out in level, couldn't go any higher as a monk, we ran across this magic well and everybody tossed a coin in. Most threw gold, I tossed in a copper. While others got burps from the well or a bag of coins spat out at them I got maximum hit points for my level and abilities, which, as I said, was maxed."

"For how long?"

Jared looked up again. "As a one-time permanent effect. I might just as easily have been turned into a drow, but it didn't happen. What *did* happen later that game was the character getting killed in a siege when the enemy summoned one elemental more than we could handle. I died heroically taking down an absolutely enormous fire elemental."

The apprentice paled. "You are deliberately transforming yourself into a *dead* person, sir?"

The redhead shook his head. "Nope. Back around fifth level we'd done quite a favor for a local king and he'd rewarded us by letting us each pick a magic item. I'd taken one that turned out to be an upgraded ring of the pheonix. It made one resistant to fire, and if one ever *died* of fiery causes it instantly raised you with many pheonix like attributes. Among them a total immunity to fire and the ability to throw an infrequent fireball through an act of will."

The shopkeeper began to look a trifle unsteady. He noticed that Jared's hair now looked rather a bit like flame, even so far as dancing slightly as the youth moved.

Jared was having fun relaying this. "This guy *always* has his bad luck turn good for him! And I don't know why. Like for example, his fiery demise and rebirth set his alignment permanently to neutral good. He had to be lawful to be both his classes and so he lost the ability to progress in them in an instant, but retained his class powers because it says so and I blew a few wishes controlling the damage. He just couldn't progress any more and had to pick something else to adventure as. So, after a retraining trip home he came back as a first level spellcaster, not able to use any of his old class powers until he'd surpassed his previous level. And he'd been a grandmaster before, so how likely was that to happen? It was *possible*. A monk's highest level is 17 and mages only begin to get their highest powers at 18, or an archmage. But I didn't feel it of immediate concern. So I refused to worry about it and just went along having fun with this low-level, know-nothing who had an insane number of hit points and a slew of interesting innate powers from his rebirth and whatnot. Again, I was just having fun... that is until the day he *did* hit archmage status and, lo and behold! According to the rules all his previous class powers he can now use at the same time with no penalty!"

The clerk gulped very heavily, fumbled around in his drawer for a bit and held out some coins, suddenly all smiles and friendliness. "Oops! Almost forgot something, sir. Your change." When the redhead failed to take it he proffered the coins again. "Here, sir. You paid over the amount."

His response was a lifted eyebrow. "No, thank you. I gave you the exact coinage necessary for this purchase."

"No really sir." The clerk offered the coins again. "There was a special today, half off that item. Here's your change."

"If it was half off, then why are you are offering me three times the price I paid?"

"Ah!" The counterperson gave an exaggerated smile. "That was just to test you, sir. Really it was our 'Special Price, Observant Customer, Three Times Rebate on Your Sale' offer for customers who are smarter than we are. Only it pays out like a slot machine, in coins. So, here you go, take your change."

He was looked at. "Accept unspecified change from a shop known for specializing in transformative puns? I think not."

"I really must insist sir, here." When that failed to earn any sort of reaction the clerk snatched a candy from the rack. "Why don't you accept this instead, sir? I really can't put the coins back in the register unless there's been a purchase made."

A glance at the label revealed it to be a Whatchamacallit bar.

"No, thank you."

"Really, sir. I can't let you out of the shop until the accounts are clear."

"Then consider those coins you hold in your hand my gift to you, if I have any right to them."

"Urk!" The clerk's face clearly became ill.

Jared had been writing all this time and completed the last sheet from the small stack of paper. He waved the pencil under the clerk's nose and that person noticed the writing implement had become a dancing lick of purple flame, a literal pheonix quill with a jeweled nub.

"No, really. I am satisfied. This guy is the most powerful warrior I'd ever played. When that topped out he, by accident, had to go back and start again, becoming an even *more* powerful mage. I have a gift for creating powerful characters, and this guy tops out every one I've ever had. What's funny is that I'd never *intended* any of that. His luck is something I just can't explain. The DM I created him under *likes* killing off characters, especially the challenging ones. That this guy survived at all was a miracle, that he *thrived* puts him somewhere near the realm of Mihoshi's reality tweaking good fortune."

The young man stood and gathered in the last of his supplies. "It was that luck that made me feel I could pull this particular trick off. While as a mage and a warrior he is powerful, it is my luck as him that should scare you if you intend to come after me."

Jared, now robed in silk and cotton, picked up his backpack and disappeared.

No small amount of accomplishment was needed to simply disappear through the wards against teleporting on *this* shop.

The clerk concluded that the owner was going to kill him. No, worse, he was going to make him SHOP here and under his very own watchful eye. The demon they'd hired as temporary counter help had not managed to screw up half so badly.

He looked down at his arms to note the hand holding the Whatchamacallit bar had started to grow purple fur, and that enough coins were now missing from the handful in his left to pay for the bar...

...without using up all the change.

"Wark!"

OoOoO

"Oh dear."

The Wiz turned to the demon, blinked, and made a remark about never hiring apprentices from Monty Python again. 


	2. Chapter 2

Skysaber's Choice  
Episode One, Part Two

Against The Negaverse!

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

Disclaimer: This is all SIs were ever derided for, but a lot more fun besides.

OoOoO

The sky split with interlocking thunderbolts and out stepped a lithe and strong young man wearing full set of armor cast out of seamless sheets of flawless pearl and polished gemstone scales, bearing a number of weapons (including a matched pair of katana forged at near-legendary levels of skill) and whose flame-like hair danced as a living part of his body.

The young man swept the streets with piercing, sapphire eyes and a sly smirk. While this was no longer the shop, neither was it his destination. "Well, I didn't expect to see *this*. Where am I anyway?"

He lifted a hand and a cantrip appeared, pointing due north. "Hmm, not very helpful. Well, information never was my specialty. That doesn't mean that I can't do it, merely that it will take more time. For now, I'll ask someone. It's not as if..."

His reverie was broken off by a feminine scream of pain. Without even having consciously realized it, he was leaping off of the ground and bounding in that direction like... well... like nothing else. One of the tricks of the kind of monk he'd become was to increase his running speed until it was flat out unreal.

He approached the scene of destruction and saw it was worse than he'd feared. Sailor Venus, okay he'd seen the series, only she was looking more like she did in the comic books as Sailor V, and fighting her were four of the nastiest youmas he'd ever seen. They were no less than four times the size of any he'd seen in the series and (now that he could actually visually see magic) theirs were approximately three times the power levels of Sailor V... each! In short she was outgunned twelve to one and at those odds had probably been running to get away from them instead of arriving to stop them.

He didn't pause. Without even drawing his weapons he rushed in, plowing his foot into one of their faces in an augmented strike he'd used to take down ogres at first level, and that had gotten substantially more powerful since then.

The thing didn't go down, which was, in his opinion, its mistake. He plowed a half dozen strikes into it in the blink of an eye, spinning and landing upon it a deadly series of blows that had once taken down a summoned arch-devil, *after* he'd body-slammed it back through the gate that had summoned it. The youma turned into a vaporous jello. Two of the others noticed him and began to burn red with energized defense fields, getting ready their attacks. The other picked up Sailor V in its tentacles and opened its maw to eat her, standing behind the cover of its fellows.

~That,~ Jared decided, ~must be the unlucky one.~

Jared performed a flying leap over the front row duo and produced his twin katanas, energizing them with spells above and beyond their original enchantments, and he became a blurring whirlwind of energy.

The monster holding Sailor V collapsed into bloody shards, though he'd had to dedicate a startling number of attacks to do it. The two others he attacked from behind while they were still adjusting to his leap. They had their defenses rocked and deep gouges rent into their hides when those shattered and quickly took to wing to avoid the alarming human in pearl armor.

One was brought down by a surprisingly powerful fireball. The other sped away and managed to gate itself back to the stronghold of its mistress before the leaping human could catch it.

Jared returned to be there for Sailor Venus after she'd fallen, slumped, to the pavement. Saving her from that fall would have been dramatic, but he'd been killing things at the time. So instead he strode toward her, stepping through the muck that had been her captors, the slime unable to even cling to his boots (a cheap cleanliness enchantment, but worth every second of not having to polish that stuff off your armor).

"Sailor V, much as I like standing around, making pretty speeches, then vanishing off in mystery, something tells me you're in rather a bit more need of help than that. First question I must ask, where are the other Scouts, and are they in as much trouble as you?"

The beautiful Sailor could only blink and stare, which was getting him nowhere. Touching her on the forehead and murmuring a spell or two, one to remove the goop from her, the other for other purposes, he took her compassionately by both hands, meeting her eyes to explain.

"Every second we remain here we are in danger. I'm not so much afraid of something attacking us, but if something were to listen to what we had to say to each other that could be disastrous. I am going to take us someplace safe. Hold tight."

The pair vanished and reappeared deep under the surface of a freshwater lake. Instantly he was soothing her before she even thought to panic. "Don't be afraid. I cast a spell upon you that allows you to breathe water. You are perfectly safe. I didn't say where we were going for fear of it being overheard, and figured underwater would be safest as I never saw either you or your enemies operating there."

Sailor V finally found some voice. "You cast a spell on me? But what about YOU!"

He chuckled, bubbles rising as he did so. "Sorry. Amphibious, I don't need the spell to breathe water. I guess now you know one of my advantages." He looked at her in concern. "Now could you tell me what those were? They were an awful lot more powerful than I remember Beryl's youma."

Actually, there were many things he wanted to know. That just seemed a good place to start, and he knew better than to overload her with questions.

Sailor V blinked for a bit, astonished and still amazed. Then, to his surprise, the plucky and ever-upbeat Sailor broke down and began to cry. She sobbed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's just been so HARD!"

It seemed wrong to hold her when he hardly even knew her, on the other hand it seemed cruel and unhelpful to refuse her any kind of comfort or solace. This seemed the stage for proffering her a handkerchief, but being underwater made that ludicrous. So Jared instead laid a single hand upon her shoulder, giving comfort to some degree in its own right, but also a way of asking nonverbally for her permission for doing more.

Such permission was not only granted but nonverbally welcomed, so he put his far hand on her opposite shoulder while transferring the first to stroking her hair. It was the 'I am not close enough to you to actually hug you' sort of hug that proffered support without presuming any kind of relationship. After five minutes it became clear that it was insufficient, she wanted and needed more nurturing than that. And so he gave in and simply hugged her in earnest, cradling her to him and offering soothing words of comfort, nurturing as much as he could with words and gestures, stroking her face and hair as he felt appropriate.

Intuitively, he divined that she'd been all alone in fighting this evil, whatever it was, and it had simply been too much for her. He inhaled deeply before murmuring in to her hair. "It's okay. I'm here. You won't be alone anymore. I won't let anything harm you. You're safe."

It was way too forward for his tastes, and might easily be misinterpreted. But nothing else sprang to mind and she seemed to receive it well, calming slightly though she continued to cling to him and sob for some time.

Feeling a tad guilty for doing so, he also used the opportunity to try and read her mind with an innate ability, hoping to shortcut everything by getting to the cause of this upset and maybe learn what had been going on. But, to his actual relief, her mind was shielded and unreadable.

"Feeling better?" He asked after somewhat more than half an hour, when her sobs had finally stopped. He'd had to renew the spell letting her breathe down here, but that was of no consequence. His group had played with some variations on the spellcasting rules, opting to have them powered by an internal store of energy instead of forgotten in the instant of casting. It made for reduced bookkeeping and the magic system seem less ridiculously awkward.

"Yes, thank you." She still clung to him, though less tightly. He knew neither she nor he meant anything more than simple comfort given and received by the contact. Or at least that was what he hoped they meant.

Jared took a deep breath, exhaling a small line of bubbles. "Well, why don't you tell me about it? You have my word that I'll help you as much as I feel able. Now, can you talk about it?" He asked gently.

Sailor V nodded a few times, still pulling herself together. Then she seemed to see her gloves for the first time in almost an hour. "Oh! I'm sorry, I've got to leave! I shouldn't..."

He grasped her by the hand and looked past her mask and into her eyes. "If you are worried about my learning your identity, don't be. I know your name is Mina Lovejoy. And I know your birth date is October 22 1978, that you are 5' 0", your blood type is B, your favorite gemstone is topaz and that your hobbies include shopping, acting, and chasing idol singers. In return I'll tell you my name is Jared Sanzennin, err Saotome, actually I can't remember what my name is right now. I keep getting confused between Jared and Ashida. I'll get back to you on that. But my blood type is O+, I am 5' 11", my birth date is irrelevant, as I can be any age I need to be, and I have too many favorite gemstones to name. My hobbies include reading, martial arts, singing in the shower, and stomping bad guys."

He saw her curious look and headed off her question. "I am a little confused as to my name right now because I've just... One part of me was a perfectly ordinary, by some standards, college student. And the rest is the hero you see before you. Or at least what passes for a hero, I'm just now realizing that powerful by one standard is still pretty limp by another."

That was, if his mental comparison of their different RPG rules was correct. He'd fought by her rules before, as a Knight in an obviously different Sailor Moon universe. And he was beginning to miss the flexibility having her style of powers offered. The way he was, while powerful, had sharply defined limits.

Suddenly he recalled that Ashida had been the given name of the character he'd now become. Okay, that meant his own real given name was Jared.

Nice to know these things. So what was his own last name again?

Sailor V, trembling, shook her head, having stopped to absorb his rant. "No, it's not that. It's Jedite. He can... He can tell when I'm in this form. He'll come after me... I'll..."

Once again Jared had to calm her to forestall panic. "Don't worry about it. I can't be detected by magical scrying, that much I know. That means Jedite and it means his master, Queen Beryl. I also took the liberty of placing us under a shell of protection as we arrived. Those things I *can* do, I do very well, and what I did was to place this lake into a... well, it'd take awhile to explain it, but I made sure no one could find us here. Not by trying to trace us, not by looking for us with magic or technology, not unless they were here with us, and I've got a pretty good suite of abilities for detecting anyone who was nearby and trying to hide."

Seeing her doubt, he continued. "Look, if anything nasty shows up, I'll kill it. Not going to be a problem. You're safe for awhile."

Sailor V finally seemed to calm down some.

"Pretty rough, huh?" The flame-haired youth offered in sympathy.

Sailor V laughed. "You have no idea." She looked around, finally appreciating the beauty of the place they were in.

Jared blinked and tried to hide a scowl. Emotionally distraught females; either take the time to put their feelings back together, or just accept that you'll never get any sort of useful information out of them. It's not that he minded the duty, it's just there were bad guys to kill, and he was beginning to feel this driving urge to go kill them. It had always seemed a little thing on the character sheet 'feels compelled to fight evil when opportunity presents', but in actual life he discovered that knowing evil things were out there made him want to go kill them. Desperately. Fortunately, patience was a virtue and therefore its opposite was an evil trait and so he felt no urge to shake this Sailor by her shoulders demanding his targeting information.

What he *did* feel was the wish that he could just create a highly-accurate map of Japan and just have her point to where the bad guys were. Unfortunately, as he had already surmised, his style of magic was not big on flexibility. In the game in which it was created his style could do most anything that needed doing, but outside of those parameters it could not adapt. He could hold a specific number of spells in memory, and each one performed as advertised, no on the fly modification. He felt sure making such a map appear was within his level of power, well within it. Jared even had some idea of how it might be done. But, lacking a specific spell to make it happen, he was helpless as far as actually doing it. He couldn't even do all the things he knew how to, as he could only hold so many spells in active memory ready to use.

One of the main reasons he'd trained in two styles of magic. Being both a druid from that game system and a mage held more options open. The same limits were still there, just a little less restricted. He didn't advertise the druid part because it encouraged enemies to underestimate him.

He liked being underestimated.

Sailor V apparently appreciated the scenery quite well. She pirouetted to face him seeming almost cheerful. "You were very helpful back there."

He accepted the thanks, hoping they were getting somewhere, though at this rate it would be swifter to prowl the streets looking for trouble than to rely on her help. But that would leave her undefended and you do not leave vulnerable things lying about if the forces of good were to suffer by them being destroyed.

In the back of his mind he was playing with the hit point equation. Those youma had taken a dozen times the damage he'd thought they'd be capable of. In D&D he'd been Stud-Boy, able to kick anything that moved and do it in a round or less.

Here the proportions didn't work that way. Either he was comparatively less powerful, or they were more so. He'd have to judge when he had more information to feed into his comparisons.

Sailor V flushed somewhat, her eyes dropping as she played in the near free fall of their liquid environment. "And so I want to say thanks. And I was going to ask, can I... I mean, we could... err... I mean, that is..." She blushed furiously. "Would you like to see me without my costume? In normal clothes, that is? You already know so much about me, you probably already know anyway, but... What do you look like when you're not dressed up like that?"

The great question burning behind her eyes was: "Are you cute?"

Actually, insofar as he knew, this *was* his natural form from now on. But then he recalled his limited and yet still extremely useful shapeshifting powers. It was a good thing, too, as he could hardly attempt to live anything like a normal life looking as he did.

Jared brought both hands before him and interlocked them, bending his head over them in thought. He tried to recall what he'd looked like before this mess, and he *thought* he got it, but was fairly certain some deep part of his mind had done some editing to get his former self's image updated with his new statistics, like the increased strength, dexterity and so on, because he *really* didn't think his former self could out super-model Fabio.

Just a little line on a character sheet: Charisma/Attractiveness of 22. It didn't mean much until it was pointed out that the normal human maximum was 18, without magic or special circumstances like the intervention of something powerful, such as he'd had.

Weird how trivial stuff in the game made so much difference outside it. He made the change.

He got the fairly certain impression, from the stars in Sailor V's eyes and her ever-rising blush, that he should've taken the time to plain his image down. But at least he'd gotten his armor and things to vanish back into magical storage.

Sailor V floated absolutely speechless for several moments.

"I'd better get you home." He tried to head off disaster.

"?"

He blinked once. "What?"

She grew even more shy. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out. I know this great movie place..."

He was having difficulty believing that a thirteen year old was asking him. Yech! Then again, Sailor Moon had Darien, and that seemed pretty extreme. A line from the Sailor Moon RPG rules returned to his memory. 'Sailor Scouts are typically 14-20 years old while Knights usually range from 17-25 years of age.' And that sort of understated the actual situation represented by the series.

This sort of match seemed endemic of the genre.

Then again, they were all going to live thousands of years. A difference of a decade here or there was meaningless in all that. And he knew, having made the character he now was, that he was good for that long quite easily.

He exhaled a line of bubbles, attempting to put together a good negative reply.

Sailor V simply forged ahead. "Or we could just hang out together. I haven't really had a good person to hang out with since I left England."

Okay, she got points for that. He knew what being lonely was, and if he was hanging out with her, he'd also be protecting her. Jared nodded. "Okay, but I've got to do something." He concentrated a bit harder and reduced his age to merely a year or two above hers, then took her startled hand and explained.

"Sailor V, when I got a powerup, I got a POWERUP! I'm fairly sure that I'm not entirely human anymore. In fact I'm certain of it, since something happened to change the way I was to the person I've become, and that person has always been an elf. But apart from that, one of my powers now is to alter my appearance. I can look as human as anybody, and so I can look like I did before I got changed. But as a side benefit I don't *have* to look exactly as I did. And if I am more your age people won't hassle us for being friends."

Her features changed to those of wonder.

"So could you tell me why those youma were attacking you?" Jared slipped in the question.

She finally answered him with some information he could use. "Oh, Jedite had opened his gate, and I wanted to get at least a look to see if there was anything I could do about it. But he'd set a trap. Those youma are ones that he'd been using to track and hunt me for weeks now. Usually I escape, but this time there were *four* of them and I couldn't get away! They would have had me if you hadn't showed up."

Her starry expression spoke volumes of gratitude.

But Jared was worried. "You say Jedite has opened his gate? The one he was going to create to facilitate travel between here and the Negaverse?"

"Was THAT what that was for?" Sailor V began to look slightly scared.

He nodded. "That gate makes the cost for them sending out youma a fraction of what it was, and they could send more generals, too. They've got more than Jedite." The redhead looked her in the pupils and addressed her seriously. "Where did they build it?"

"Tokyo Harbor." It was clear in her reply that she'd thought everybody knew.

There was a glint in his eye. "Somebody is REALLY going to hate me in the morning."

OoOoO

It was clear why Sailor V had thought that everybody knew about the gate's location. Standing in Tokyo Harbor was an immense structure of black material, like a grotesque, demonic, water lily perched on the bay.

It was ugly, but that was to be expected of the Negaverse.

Jared, presently in what he was beginning to think of as 'hero mode', and Sailor V were standing in a cloud overhead watching as the evil fortress crawled with dark minions.

Sailor V tamped the cloud underfoot uncertainly, staying close by his side.

"Well," Jared surmised, looking at the fortress, "that had to require alot of energy from their side. If the gate is inside it, and I believe you, the power flow indicates that it is, then that will cost them doubly. Plus, I intend to be taking out rather alot of servitors with it. So, with any luck, they'll lose months of work in this attack."

"What are you going to do?" To Sailor V this seemed an obvious question.

He answered with a grin. "Mina, within city streets I am fairly limited. I can do martial arts and strike things with that, but to really upset the enemy requires spells, and being honest most of mine are of the 'level the countryside' variety. It's just pure luck that these guys chose to locate their base in a bay. Property values along the coast will drop a bit, but I can hit this thing hard."

She blinked at him. Assault on a Negaverse base was something she'd not considered doing just as the average cocktail waitress living on tips does not go and casually buy the Bank of Tokyo.

"No." He answered her unspoken question. "I could *not* take them all on in a straight up fight. The whole idea of this kind of assault is to give them enough *other* things to deal with that they can only focus a minuscule amount of power on me. That way I can, hopefully, continue to inflict mayhem and at some point they lose their ability to cope with it and start to crumble." He rubbed his chin. "Actually, that's exactly what they're doing to Japan, come to think of it, so this is a just revenge." He looked at his companion. "But I'd first better get you somewhere safe."

Sailor V shook her golden-haired head. "Sorry, but I've been alone so long... you win or fail at this, you're doing it with me."

Jared actually felt touched by that kind of loyalty. He rarely felt anything for romance, but displays of courage could bring him to tears the same way girls cried at mushiness. He made an effort not to get choked up.

Mina was 'good people' in his book from now on.

He knelt down on the cloud they were riding and opened his bag, rummaging through to bring out potion flasks of nearly a dozen varieties. He waved her down beside him, proffering the first bottle.

"Please drop your Sailor form for this, I don't want it interacting with that magic and taking effect only when you are transformed." He was openly trying to ignore the fact that her offer really *had* gotten him to tear up. He hoped that he could hide it.

Sailor V looked at him a long second, and then de-transformed to her non-costumed state. Accepting the now opened bottle, she examined it critically. "What is it?"

"I once knocked over a subterrainian city full of non-human alchemists who kept human slaves. I took offense at how badly they treated them and killed large numbers of the alchemists involved. They ran away too fast for me to get them all. But the loot I got out of sacking that city was rich beyond price. This is one of the best there was. It is a potion of immunity, and that particular one covers poison. Drink it, and you will never again be poisoned by anything, ever. You can bathe cuts in scorpion venom or drink bleach if you care to. The first will sting and the second won't taste good, but they won't hurt you either."

He watched her startled look, but she drank it. He was all ready to hand her another. "This one covers disease."

Again, startlement, but she drank it.

He was proffering a third. "Have you ever wanted to be Supergirl? This one will make you immune to weapons unless they are enchanted. I admit that most of what they *would* do to us would still hurt you just fine, but there's always hope that it would stop something. For instance, the bullets from misguided or possessed police will just bounce off of your pretty chest." His grin relaxed somewhat. "You'll just have to avoid nurses or explain why their needles won't puncture your arm."

Mina gave a giggle and downed the bottle, hiccuping a little after she was done.

He was already retrieving the fourth. "Normally, drinking this many potions in so short a time would be a problem, but these are a special case. They change you in a 'twinkling of an eye' as I believe it was put, afterwards they're not even there anymore. They've worked their magic and are done, gone, though the effects are permanent. If it were not so I couldn't feed you this many in so short a time in safety."

He found the bottle and lifted it. Each of these were worth a king's ransom, in literal truth at times. Any one of these bottles he was or had given her could have been sold for an amount that could retire Nabiki to live in luxury. For anyone less greedy you could feed a city on the sale price of any one of them.

There weren't any cities in need of feeding that he was aware of. He proffered Mina the fourth potion. "This one is the one that I hope will do the most good. What it covers is 'Death Magic', and in the school of spells I was trained in that meant a huge array of magic that would cause you to die without their first going through the formality of burning, blasting, freezing or otherwise rendering your body incapable of sustaining life. It is my hope that since the attacks they frequently use are of negative life energy, that this would at least blunt them. At worst it would do nothing, at best they'd have to resort to fire or electricity to harm you."

He watched as she drank that potion, thinking furiously in the time that allowed. What he'd done was to cut down the enemy options in the dirty tricks department. Well, and Mina would now have a clean bill of health into perpetuity. But as far as aiding her in a stand up fight against a Negaverse creature that merely wanted to shred her into pieces, he hadn't helped her a bit. If she got cocky from it he might even have hurt her.

He looked at the potions that were left, finally selecting one and returning the rest to his bag. Popping out the stopper, he poured some of the liquid into his hand and began to rub it on his arm. Answering Mina's look, he stated. "We don't drink this one. It is to be applied externally. Just don't spill any on the outside of the bottle or we'll never be able to pick it up again. Actually, you might want to be in costume to do this, your transformation might remove the oil."

The teenage girl peered at the label and tried to read the wiggly script. Looking at him, she made her transformation and began to apply the oil without a word. After she'd done both of her legs she sited. "This stuff is pretty slick."

Jared moved from doing his chest to his neck and head. "That's pretty much it. It's called Oil of Slipperiness. While it's in effect you are slicker than a greased eel and ten times harder to grab. I've noticed they like to use the tactic of holding you in place while they zap you. This makes that impossible for a short time."

Sailor V continued to apply the oil without any more comment.

He gazed at her for a long moment, then made a choice and removed the open front, split-sided robe he wore over his armor, taking off his cape as well and handing both to her. She took them, but was clearly puzzled.

"Just put them on." He asked of her.

She complied and how much she was trusting him was really getting to him. He wasn't used to being trusted, and to have so much lavished on him was starting to affect his emotions, making him want badly to deserve it. As she didn't have any way of knowing if he was for real or a clever fake.

The clothes were a little baggy around her, and the robe completely covered her Sailor costume. But her trusting face over his too large clothes made her look raffish and endearing, a loyal ragamuffin sort of look.

He almost choked up.

"Just... they will protect you. My robe is soft as a breeze to wear and stronger than a castle wall to attacks. Pull the cloak around you and you will become invisible. I doubt they'll be expecting that, so it'll give you a surprise attack on at least one of them."

Again she accepted that on faith.

His throat felt tight. This was uncomfortable! If she kept trusting him like that he'd fall in love with her! He knew it! And he'd been burned too many times before to want to fall in love with anyone. It hurt too much!

Swallowing, he handed her two last things, a bottle and a scepter. "Here, the bottle is of a solvent. I've seen the Negaverse use alot of sticky goo to help pin you down while they shoot at you. This will dissolve anything they try to use, but there's only one use, so be careful with it. The scepter... it heals things. If you get hit bad this will put you back together, pretty much whatever they do to you. Worst case it would take a few days."

Trying not to look at her, unable to bear the amount of cheerful support he saw there, he went about busying himself with his spells. His own setup took well over a half an hour, which his companion bore patiently.

Finally he was finished. His defenses were in place, and his assault spells were already gathering. He spoke over his shoulder to Sailor V. "I'm dropping the spell that hides us. There's no way they could fail to notice us with the amount of magic I'm brewing. The spell could continue to disguise us for several minutes, but they *would* see through it. It would be better for us to keep the fact that we *can* hide like that a secret, so we can use it another day."

With that he turned back to his work, saying. "Let's get this started."

He brought his hands down before him and cupped them, chanting while gradually bringing the swirling globe of sapphire blue energy that formed between them high so that it faced the sky, little streamers ran off and began to touch the distant horizon, forming clouds above them almost immediately.

"Zephyr's rage and tempest gale,  
Come ye now beyond the veil."

Clouds began piling up and the sigils drawn into the passenger surface of their cloud began to glow with a foxfire radiance, indicating detection spells finding them.

"I call the elements to cleanse this site,  
Heaven's guardians, lend your might."

Flickers of lightning began to show within the darkening clouds and a cold wind whipped through the area, flicking Mina's blonde hair about where it had escaped from the cloak.

"Purge this darkness from the land,  
Here is where I'll make my stand.  
Spirits of ice and wind and storm,  
I name you now, and give you form."

The wind had gone from strong to typhoon force, and Mina's eyes widened at the shapes illumined within the clouds. "Here be dragons," she breathed.

His chanting went on at a rising pitch of culminating effort as the globe within his hands began to pulse with lightning strokes held within it. Above them, storm clouds brewed at an astonishing rate, churning into a full fledged typhoon within moments.

"Enemies of the darkest night,  
Purge them now with eldritch might!  
Clouds to swirl, and lightning crack,  
Tis time to pay the darkness back!"

The sapphire globe of light within his hands had grown exponentially, until it looked as though he held a smaller copy of the world over his head. One raging with hurricanes. He inhaled deeply to shout in his loudest voice.

"SIEGE STORM!"

He released the globe, which shot upward like a bolt to strike the clouds above them. Instantly, the wind cracked to a new velocity and rain seethed down with great force. Lightning crackled and the terrible typhoon began as if by a flipped switch.

The cloud they were standing on dropped low, to just barely over the sea level, and beyond the reach of wind-capped waves. The fury of the storm somehow missed the little cloud, rain falling around it while even the wind gusting over it seemed almost mild when compared to the vast destructive force raging beyond its boundaries. Thus it was that Mina's eyes were clear enough to make out several dark shapes lifting off from the besieged Negaverse fortress before those same shapes were flattened by the wind and swallowed by the churning waves.

Jared flipped fiery hair out of his eyes in a confident gesture. Bringing one hand to about shoulder height, he began to twirl one finger about as if stirring the air above him.

"Now let the wind begin to curl,  
And the storm begin to swirl.  
Let it curl and it swirl and it twirl and it whirl,  
With the fury of the sky!"

The youth raised the hand, now curling and twisting from elbow to fingertip like the most accomplished pantomime imitating a twister.

"Whirlwind!"

Jared brought his hand low and a funnel of wind reached down from the clouds, and a tornado *added* to the typhoon both struck the Negaverse fort. Dozens of dark servitors, still small with distance, began to be flung about like chaff. The tornado was reaching into crevices sheltered from the fury of the typhoon, flinging those it found in them to be battered about by the greater mass of winds and pulped against the keep's own walls.

The young mage merely raised his gaze to the clouds above and said.

"Come, Lightning."

An extremely thick shaft of electric violence ripped down from heavens above and shattered one of the keep's walls. The wind immediately picked up the pieces and flung them about, striking and breaking other parts of the fortress and servants not yet destroyed by the wind itself, while the hole created by the first blast of lightning was being torn steadily wider by the devouring storm.

There came a powerful pulse of opposing magic and his storm began to fade almost immediately. Jared grit his teeth and extended his awareness. The net of forces that was his Siege Storm spell was actually a delicate thing, not a match for the planes of shearing force being sent against it. Minimizing the damage and continuing on, the mage in question was essentially performing an aikido move, allowing the force of the blow to pass undisturbed through his weave and knitting it back together in the wake. It would have been no problem with one or two of the attacks, but there had been over a dozen of the shears sent through.

When the wind began to die another wave of flying youmas lifted off to come for them, well over a dozen strong of horrible, skeletal things too thin to be disturbed by the flagging winds.

Jared reestablished his spell before it could die, adding flakes of ice and hail to the storm. The blizzard coated the flying skeletal things and added mass, catching the winds and adding weight while freezing joints. They were destroyed in moments. His hold over this was precarious, they'd mustered STRONG resistance, far stronger than he'd expected. But while he held control, the ice chips burrowed into the fortress' walls and burned into it like a sandstorm.

A surge of opposing magic overcame his hold directly and he lost the storm, the wind beginning to fade away in seconds. But to his enemy's chagrin, the lightning and tornado were separate spells over which the redhead still retained full control. A stroke of electric mayhem brought down an ugly tower in the center of their demense, while he focused the tornado's attentions to continue on in the wake of the storm's demise.

Still more flying creatures took to wing to face him. Grimly, the mage split his attention and set his shoulders, chanting.

"Allies of Air, heed my call!  
Lock them now within zephyr's wall.  
Block our enemies at their gate,  
Helpless made by their own hate!"

He brought up a fist to point with. "Wind Wall!"

A white globe of swirling forces formed over the fortress, spattering the flight of tiny youmas as they tried to cross through it.

He got one more bolt of lightning in before they put a stop to that, but he grimly hung on to his tornado, recasting it the moment they wrested control of one, so at one time there were three of them running rampant over their structure before they realized this particular spell wasn't something the controller could just cease, so they redirected the wind funnels over the water where at the least the cyclones were no longer tearing apart their own fortress.

As they wrestled with him through spells for control of his remaining tornado he could feel a surge of triumph.

They'd failed to notice the real attack.

A wall of water a mile wide and over two hundred feet tall crested and crashed down onto the Negaverse fortress going in excess of a hundred miles an hour. Rubble splashed high as the wave came down, utterly disintegrating their fort with its massive kinetic attack.

It was really hard pulling any kind of fancy tricks against things like that.

Jared then terminated that spell before the beach could be hit. There'd still be a wave, but it would no longer be a directed force of destruction and most of it would go in other ways. There'd be minor damage at best.

That was when a bubble of force emerged from the wave waters and rose to hover above the sea, a bubble containing the vital core of their fort within it. A pair of winged draconic youma issued forth and began to fly in his direction, their large white bodies leaving trails of ice crystals glittering in the air behind them.

"Here's where things get ugly." The youth prophesied aside to his companion. He'd either defeat these things quickly to continue the real assault, or he would not and they'd have to retreat without doing the damaged enemy in.

He pointed at one and suddenly its wings clawed ineffectually at the air, unable to find purchase. Lacking lift, it plunged into the sea, freezing acres of it and becoming trapped within the ice. The other youma landed on the berg rather than suffer the same fate, and sent a cone of freezing particles in their direction. The cone parted, leaving a sphere of space untouched around the cloud they stood upon. Jared began to reply in kind with fireballs.

The battle between him and the ice dragons became complicated by the arrival of a spell casting youma in support of them. She broke the first dragon free of the ice it had been trapped in, and while they kept him busy she would then probe and remove with crackling sheets of darkness the defenses that their attacks revealed.

Deciding he was not winning that war, Jared leapt down onto the iceberg and went toe to toe with the ice dragons, lighting up with an aura of flame and laying into them with physical punches and blows that staggered them.

He put down one while the other reeled from a broken neck, then he battled the spellcasting youma, getting his defenses tested by it and by the other, minor youma that began to appear. The mage was just putting down the third assault and killing the spellcaster when the last ice dragon, recovering from its broken neck as no living thing could, reared behind him and encased him in a prism of ice, held totally immobile within it.

"Venus Power: Meteor Beam Shower!"

Sailor V dropped invisibility and held out a pointed finger, from which emerged her trademark beam of light, only this light split into a dozen or more separate beams which diverged and then slammed in from every angle on the target. The weakened ice dragon perished.

Looking every which way, nervous of the minor youma still flitting about in utter chaos, but in ever greater numbers as survivors emerged from the wreckage of their fort, she uncorked the solvent and poured it over the icy prism. It melted, but the mage in pearl armor slumped listless down to the surface of the ice flow.

A trio of vulturelike youma appeared, hunting over the iceberg as the last known source of conflict. Fearing to use the scepter for its promised delay, Sailor V struggled to lift the unconscious mage, pushing and skating him ineffectively across the ice. In the end she unwrapped one of the nets from his belt, catching him in it despite his slippery effect, then lifted and shouldered the mage's pale form and scampered off the ice and back onto the cloud still lying low.

"Uh, take us home. Okay?" She asked uncertainly, unwrapping the mage.

The little cloud sped off.

OoOoO

"Artemis!" Mina's voice whispered. "Artemis!" She hissed a little louder.

The cat came awake on her bed. "Huh? Mina! I'm so glad you're well. You'd been gone for so long that I'd..."

"Will you quit yakking?" She whispered from beyond her just barely open window. "Get out here and help me, will ya?"

The white cat hopped up onto the window sill. "What's the matter, Mina? Does this have something to do with the battle I sensed earlier? What are you doing outside your window anyway? This isn't the ground floor." Then he caught sight of what Mina was standing on. "Hold on a minute! Where'd this come from? And who is he?"

"This guy saved my life earlier." Mina hauled on his pearl clad arm, noting the oil had evaporated and trying to maneuver him in through her window. "Hey, do ya got an idea on how we can get him out of his costume? My folks'll freak if they see him all dressed up like this."

Artemis hopped out onto the odd behaving cloud. "I don't recognize him."

"Will you quit it with the suspicion already! I told you, he's already saved my life and he spent close to an hour blowing apart Jedite's fortress. I DON'T think he's a friend of the Negaverse!" Her cheeks blushed a little rosy. A Good Guy. An ally on *her* side, AND he was majorly cute to boot! It was about time the universe dropped something good her way. She didn't even have to worry, like she would with a normal boyfriend, because this guy *wasn't* useless in a fight! AND he already knew about her costumed identity!

Her expression of dreamy adoration, mingled with her history of boy-crazyness, was actually slightly scary.

"C'mon, help me get him inside." He was freezing. Her cheeks flushed with twin, bright spots of scarlet as she struggled on a sudden, naughty thought about how she could be keeping him warm...

Eyes went to pink hearts, an image of him asleep curled up next to her, both in their pajamas...

"Hold on a minute!" The cat cautioned. "Okay, he's a good guy, but do you want your parents to just find him in your room? Far better if we take him in by the front door. That way you can explain that he's a classmate of yours or something and got knocked out by the storm. At least then you won't be grounded for the next little while."

Little while. Mina rolled her eyes. Artemis had a point, but 'little while' would probably be the remainder of the school year! "Okay, but how do we get his costume off? My parents won't believe he's a classmate with his hair on fire."

The little cat paced around the armored figure lying prone. "It looks like he got hit with an ice stasis spell."

"Will you just answer the question!" Whispering this long, floating outside of her second story window where her parents might wake up and hear, or worse, see them, was fraying at her nerves.

"Queen Serenity had a way to do it, in case any of you Scouts got injured and she needed a way to treat you without the protective spells of your costume getting in the way. Why don't you try your transformation brooch or disguise pen on him?"

"Okay." Dubiously, Mina tried it, holding her pen, thinking hard about restoring him to normal while she touched it to his chest. He faded and rippled, returning to the boy a year or two older than her.

"Uh, Artemis? Why didn't any of his armor or weapons go away?"

"Uh," the cat sweatdropped.

"Never mind." Mina grabbed the bag he'd worn throughout the fight. "Lets see how much of his stuff fits in here. We can shove the rest under my bed."

To their surprise everything fit without any problem.

"Who *is* this guy?"

"There don't seem to be any jeans in here." Mina was rummaging around in the still spacious bag. "We can't take him inside wearing that. It looks like he just got out of some Old English play!"

Artemis perched atop of the breathing corpse still dressed in tunic and tights. "You could say he was going to a stage rehearsal."

Mina looked down on the boy and sucked in her lip. "I guess it's got to do. My folks are going to ask his name, though."

"Don't you even know that much about him?"

Mina replied by saying, in a slightly exasperated tone of voice. "We were a little too busy fighting the forces of evil for a formal introduction, okay? He told me he'd tell me later. But he DID say that his first name was Jared. Jared Saotome, I think."

"Well, now that that's settled with, let's get him to the front door. You can ring the bell and get your father to drag him inside. We don't want to reveal how strong you are."

Some of her perkiness returned. "Right, Artemis. Uh, Cloud? Could you set us down please?"

The obedient little cloud floated around to the front door, settled down there, and vanished, leaving them on the front porch.

"Wow, that was some instrument! I wonder what power went into making that?"

"Jared made it, but I don't know how. Most of what he did didn't make much sense to me. But the way he fought was just *dreamy!*" She pulled on the rope that rang the bell and used her key to open the front door. Leaning in she yelled. "Mom! Could someone help me please?"

There was some rumbling and Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy rounded to the top of the stairs, wearing their pajamas under light robes. The light and noise of a battery TV still on came from their room. Her dad was carrying a candle while both he and her mom rushed down to see her. "Mina-chan! What are you doing in so late?" Her mom called. "With those monsters about and that storm running we didn't know if you were coming home! We were afraid something might have happened to you!"

Mina got hugged and the top of her head kissed.

She sighed. "Thanks, mom. Dad? Could you help me move my friend in? He kinda got hurt when we were out together."

Her mother did not release her hold, but her father went out to look at the boy, suddenly lightened by their neighbors getting an emergency generator to work. When Mina's mother glanced that way she gasped, then released her daughter, helping her husband to lift the solid weight of the boy and carry him over the threshold, setting him down in the dark of the living room on their couch.

"What happened to him, Mina-chan?"

"We were... meeting for sodas after his play rehearsal!" The blonde girl said on a sudden inspiration. "Then the wind picked up and he carried me most of the way home."

"So he's probably just exhausted, instead of being frozen." Her father surmised, packing blankets around the limp body while his wife lay a hot water bottle across the youth's forehead. Then her father raised his head from appraising the patient. "We've been hearing on the TV that the winds had even picked up small cars and thrown them hundreds of feet! You should have stayed indoors until the winds died down. This was on the news as the One Hour Typhoon because it built up and went away so fast."

"Well, the soda shop had these big, glass windows." Mina temporized.

Her mother fixed her with an appraising stare, having caught the boy's entirely too handsome features and turning to memorize every nuance of her daughter's face, calculating the equation from there. "Mina. What were you doing out with a boy so late?"

Every available surface of Mina's flesh went rosy. "Nothing, mom."

Her mother could tell that this 'nothing' was something indeed. "Young Lady, do you understand what trouble you might have been in if this 'nothing' had turned out to be what I think it was?"

Mina's blush receded and her hands went to her sides. "Nothing happened! This was to have been our first time out, okay? Besides, I was just going to date with him. I wasn't going to... you know." The blush returned in small measure.

Detecting honesty, the mother relented and went to enfold her young daughter, shifting to address her in her arms. "I'm sorry, dear. We're your parents. We worry about you. And he IS a handsome boy." She stroked her daughter's long hair. "I should have trusted you. The storm had us so upset. But you *would* tell us if anything like that were to...?"

Mina nodded. It was a small request. "Sure, mom."

Power came back on. Lights returned with whizzes and clicks as various electronic appliances reset themselves.

"Dear, come look at this." The father called, both mother and daughter oriented on him. "I was looking to see if I could find a wallet or a school ID card, something with the boy's address or a number so I could call his parents. Look at what I found."

He held out a roll of yen bills that, when looked at closely, had to approach the fair market value of their home.

Mina laughed and made up a story in fine anime style. "Oh! That, hehe, well... you see, he's a... he's a movie star! And, uh, err, well he just moved to our school..."

Artemis jumped up to the bannister above and behind her parent's heads. The cat pointed at each of her parents and then rolled over, playing dead.

"...and he's an orphan..." Mina said to her audience.

Artemis rolled up and held his tail above him, making a startling representation of a peaked roof.

"...and he was looking to buy a house in the area."

The cat made as if a homeless person sleeping in a box.

"But he hasn't found one yet."

Suddenly the cat was in a girl's school dress and whispering to the side.

"Or at least that's what the gossip is, we hadn't gotten to talk very much." Mina finished, feeling very pleased as her parents moved back from suspicious to being sympathetic.

"Oh, well the boy should know it isn't very safe to carry cash. Do you know what kind of movies he... hello, what's this?"

Out of the waist pouch Mina had somehow neglected to take off of him, and that her father had found the cash in, fell out a videotape cartridge. Both parents read the cover.

"Skysaber, The Motion Picture?"

"That's certainly his face cartooned on the front, though the drawing doesn't do him justice."

Her mother slid the tape out of the cardboard jacket and put it into the living room TV, turning it on. The opening credits began to roll, and in the background was this boy, singing in dubbed Japanese and fighting nameless thugs with a laser pistol.

Mina's mom stopped the tape, meeting her husband's gaze. Simultaneously, they both shrugged. It looked like the boy *was* a movie star. At least they could stop worrying if he was a criminal having that much money on hand.

Mina was stock still with an electric look. He really WAS a movie star! And an IDOL SINGER TOO! The sparks flying off of her grin in every direction might have disturbed more alert parents than ones she had.

And he was HERS! *All* hers! Bwahahahaha! 


	3. Chapter 3

Skysaber's Choice  
Episode One, Part Three

Convalescing and Conundrums

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

Mina snuck downstairs long after her parents' light had gone out and removed the scepter from within a pillowcase she'd used to disguise it. Grasping the ornate rod in her hands, she asked of Artemis, "Okay, how do I use it?"

"Beats me. It's not a Silver Moon artifact."

"But Artemis, I don't have any other way of trying to remove that ice stasis spell!"

"Calm down, Mina. Just try commanding it to do something."

Mina thought it over. Well, it'd worked with the cloud. She held the scepter uncertainly before her. "Uh, Scepter, I want you to heal somebody."

Instantly there was a noise like a deep chime crossed with a sizzle. The room filled with a bright blue-white radiance which subsided after a few moments.

"I dunno what happened but I feel *real* good." Artemis observed.

Mina stood blinking with the somewhat daffy look of someone coming to grips with a powerfully pleasurable feeling. She blinked a few times, then shook her head, looking down at Jared. "Did it do anything?"

Artemis pried up one of the bandages Mina's mom had applied to Jared's cuts. "Well, many of his injuries are gone, but those weren't what we were concerned about, they were minor anyway. It doesn't seem to have removed the ice stasis."

"Do something else!" Mina shook the rod, then found she was holding an eight foot spear with an elaborately lethal blade at the end.

Artemis wasn't paying attention to Mina's efforts, focusing instead on looking at the youth. "Try touching him with it. That might help focus the spell."

Mina was staring at the decidedly wicked looking leafed tip. "There's NO WAY I'm touching him with an edge this sharp!"

Before her eyes the blade vanished, leaving her holding an eight foot staff. Just then Artemis chose to look in her direction. "What edge? What are you talking about, Mina?"

The pretty blonde frowned. "Hold on a second, Artemis." She concentrated and the blade reappeared. After a few seconds of playing with the weapon she managed to restore it to the rod sized scepter it'd started out as.

"A transforming weapon. We had a few of those during the Silver Millennium. They could change their form to become weapons suited to what their wielder required based on the situation, some had three forms, a few had more. Go ahead and try and command it to become something else."

"Not right now, Artemis. We can do that later, and right now I want help figuring out how to get this thing to remove that stasis spell from Jared...!"

A pencil thin beam of light sprang out from the scepter's tip, resting on Jared's forehead. In seconds the faint blue tone had vanished from his flesh and he stirred, raising a hand to his face as he tried to sit up.

"Ow, I hurt all over. What happened?"

Mina was at his side fussing over him. "One of the ice youma got to you. Are you alright? You're going to be okay, aren't you?"

The redhead looked up into her eyes and had a startling recollection of waking up to find a succubus had snuck into camp and was bending over him, intending to steal his soul with her lethal kisses.

It had been the feel of her mouth upon his that had awakened him that time.

Fortunately, he'd had some rather odd ancestry himself and turned out to be immune to energy drain. While the succubus was still figuring that out, he'd stunned, disabled, and immobilized her, then knocked her unconscious and gone over to the next tent to ask a mage if he could borrow that scroll of Domination he'd been so unhappy to get at the last treasure haul distribution.

To everyone's surprise, when he'd read the scroll over the demoness it had actually worked (Jared had been resigned to killing her, but had found it amusing to at least try. His mage friend hadn't wanted that scroll anyway and in fact was pleased to watch him make the experiment).

So, with his will absolutely dominating hers, and just to see if he could finagle it, or if it would exceed the power of the spell, he'd commanded the demoness to repent, cleanse her soul from evil, purify her heart and mind, seek no harm to come to him, embrace the precepts and principles of good, and so on, sending her off to a temple near his homeland.

That had been a while ago and he hadn't heard from her since. Well, except very briefly when he'd later enlisted her aid in taking over that city of evil alchemists, but that was still some time ago.

The redhead shook his head fuzzily. "I'll let you know in a minute. Sheesh, in the *game* there's never this disorientation, and then at least I know what happened to me. And that scene happened to my character, not me." He took a quick assessment as best he was able, tracking down the sensations of things which were wrong.

"I'm not regenerating." He concluded as one major point. As soon as it occurred to him he became aware of other things that his *character* took for granted, but that he himself was only newly accustomed to only enough to notice their lack. There was practically his whole *suite* of defensive enchantments and power boosts missing.

Jared did a swift check, patting himself down, including wrists, throat and absent belt, ending by raising his face to hers in concern. "What happened to all my stuff?"

She smiled. "I had to take them off you, I didn't want my parents to see you in all that fancy getup. I put them all in your bag, which is up in my room. Do you want me to get it?"

He considered. Practically everything he'd had or worn was protective or magic in some degree. Even having some parts of it removed, however briefly, would require days of constant wear to retrain them to him. He'd just lost a major part of his magical advantage. Then again, she did have a point about running about draped with all sorts of enchanted trinkets, most of which were made out of something precious. Guys in real life did not regularly wear jewelry. Guys in adventure worlds did it out of necessity, as jewelry was an easy way to carry about useful enchantments.

It would require time to think on. Standing out was a good way to get zeroed in on and attacked in your off time. But still... No rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, crowns... He shuddered. The thought seemed somehow unnatural. Maybe he could hide a bit of it and wear some anyway. For one thing, being without his trinkets made him much more vulnerable.

Jared looked up into her adoring face, arriving at his conclusion. "I will need some of it, if you don't mind."

She nodded perkily and went to get his belongings. He lay back and addressed her cat as Mina took off. "So, Artemis, what's the situation like? What's up with Jedite? How'd he get so powerful?"

The white feline cocked his head at the youngster. "I'm not sure I should be telling you."

Mina returned with the bag, caroling quietly. "Here you are! Everything you had fit in there, so I think that's all of it." She handed it to him.

At her words, Jared reflexively checked the waist pouch still at his side, relaxing somewhat as it felt its presence. "Thanks." He accepted the other bag and opened it to check inside. Finding everything to his satisfaction, he removed a ruby armband and slid it up his left arm, laying back with a sigh.

"Ahhh, feels good." The last of his injuries began to visibly knit up.

He answered her questioning gaze. "One of the better trinkets. This regenerates injuries, it will even bring you back to life if you were wearing it when you died and the cause was only wounds. It looks like I got hit with something else, though. Do you have any idea what it was?"

"Artemis called it an ice stasis spell. One of those youmas locked you in a block. The solvent got you out of it, but I couldn't wake you up."

Jared received the information. "That's nice to know, but disturbing. I'd never heard of Universal Solvent melting anything solid before, only goo; unless specially refined to do so, which this wasn't." He met her eyes before shifting to lay on his side, trying hard not to frown. "That concerns me. My armor supposedly makes me immune to cold damage. I don't like the idea of them sidestepping my protections so easily."

"You said damage." Artemis pointed out. "The ice stasis spell merely causes immobilization and paralysis. The damage you suffer comes from being entombed. It is a side effect and not caused directly by the spell."

Jared looked between his companions. "Still, magic here seems generally more flexible than I'm used to. My greatest power once lay in knowing the precise limits of things. This place seems to be invalidating much of my knowledge, even about myself and the objects I carry with me."

Artemis cocked his head. "I'm not sure we can be much help to you. The style of magic you practice is unknown to us." The cat shrugged. "Some of what you've done seems pretty reasonable. Queen Serenity or any of her advisors could've done them, not to mention some of the Knights or Scouts. But things like that cloud of yours... We could only do something like that by investing an object with power, but Mina says that you created it with a spell."

The redhead absently nodded, still cataloging his bruises. "Yeah, the Cloud Chariot spell. I took the liberty of inventing that when I found out some of the limits of the Cloud Trapeze. Slightly more complicated, but well within my ability, and generally more useful because it lasts a great deal longer. Plus, trapeze just sounds like a dorky name for something that you stand on. Swing from, yes, that I could see, but not stand on."

A moment of silence followed that announcement.

Jared went on, changing topics. "I would have pulled more dirty tricks out of my sleeve if I hadn't thought I'd been winning that fight. But it appears I am more easily circumvented than I'd thought. I doubt that's their only trick that can stop me. They dealt with my siege spells very handily." He sat up and rubbed his palms in circles over his eyes. "So it looks like no more frontal assaults, until I'm up to speed that is. I can only hope we hurt them badly enough that we can put them the rest of the way down by sniping at them."

There were a few more words til they had to say goodnight. He dosed Mina with a druidic cantrip that would double the rest she would obtain in the few hours of the night remaining, then they retired to their separate sleeping areas.

OoOoO

"I'm still not so sure about him." Artemis observed as Mina took to her room.

She dropped the kitty cat and favored him with a scowl, disapproving of him without saying a word. She twirled her finger around as part of their normal routine.

Artemis faithfully turned his back while she changed into her bedclothes.

"I'm serious, Mina." He spoke to the wall. "Who is he? He admits to being a very powerful mage, but what exactly do we know about him?" Hearing nothing behind him, he again addressed the wall to his face. "Okay, he saved your life. But it's risky to place so much trust in someone we both know so little about. He admits being able to MAKE his own spells based on inferior models! Do you know how much energy of the Silver Millennium was spent just researching the Scout powers and creating things like your transformation brooch? More than it took to terraform Venus!"

The little cat found himself bonked, lightly but reprovingly, with the scepter Jared had loaned her. Then the elaborate rod was tossed down on the nightstand and Mina, now in her pretty and comfy bedclothes, turned back the plush covers.

Artemis jumped up beside her pillow.

"I'm not saying he's a bad person, Mina. I'm just nervous about him knowing so much about us while we, in turn, know so little about him."

The girl with long, blonde hair sighed. "I know Artemis. But he's been honest with us, and really, what did you ask that he wasn't willing to explain?"

The cat had no ready reply to that, settling himself on the bed beside the pillow.

"Goodnight, Mina."

"G'night, Artemis. Don't evil people take advantage of weakness and lay curses and stuff? I'm not cursed, am I?" The blonde sleepily murmured.

The cat, all curled up, lifted his nose a little to shake his head. "Not that I can tell." Actually, her ability to even ask that question pretty much ruled out mind control or many of the nastier possibilities.

His companion mumbled blearily.

"Anyway, he trusted me with his life, didn't he? I mean, even if the ice stasis was a setup, what evil person would be willing to get in that type of fight and die just to earn my trust? Even if the rod was there could he be sure I'd use it? I don't think an evil person would be able to trust like that."

An increasingly sleepy yawn.

"Besides, they already had me, Artemis. Why save me from their demons, blow up their own fort, trust his life into my hands, and then all that other stuff if he was on their side?"

The cat blinked at his compatriot, now asleep. Sorrowfully, he added to himself. "Maybe he doesn't work for them. But there's more bad guys than just the Negaverse."

OoOoO

Mina's door off of the upstairs hall was no sooner closed than Jared was up and dressing in total silence. Hey, he had a 174% chance to move silently, he was entitled!

Having garbed himself in his fighting gear, he drew his cloak about him and vanished, slipping out of the front door and casting his Cloud Chariot spell once again.

Now it was time to rest and recoup, for both sides to count their losses and heal their wounds. In other words, it was a *perfect* opportunity for slapping your foes while they were down and not expecting it!

No, realistically, Jedite would be being raked over the coals by Beryl. Most of their fortress was gone, there were breaks in what was left, and the youma were not yet on steady guard schedules for their adjusted environs. The very fact that this was far too early for him to launch a second offensive at full strength made it perfect for a careful surgical strike.

A careful one so that he didn't overextend on it. Missions of this sort tended to be one way unless you expended an awful amount of caution doing them.

But the more he could cause the enemy to worry about him, the less he would have to worry himself. Nothing and no one could do everything at once. If they were searching for him with everything they had, then they weren't out gathering energy. If they spent power in rebuilding, then that wasn't being used to accomplish something else. If the Negaverse was trying to hunt him, then that was so much less power they were using in other ways. But most important of all: every iota of strength they spent on defending themselves they weren't using on attack.

He was a great believer in making the enemy waste their efforts.

Jared landed on the remains of a platform that was part of the wrecked fortress. Figuring out how to cancel the spell holding it aloft would be fun, but so far they were the victors in the spell vs counterspell game. They would likely catch him before the fall could destroy anything.

No. Quick and dirty or silent and deadly was the way to go.

Since he had no siege spells that weren't slow and obvious, Jared elected for the second option. This place needed an ecology. Still invisible, he summoned a few bats and sent them through the fortress, using other spells to ride piggyback on their senses and memorize the layout of the fortress' remaining design.

Bats had zero in the way of color perception, but their radar sense told him hard vs soft and shapes very keenly. It wasn't long before he'd located kitchens, rooms in which laired youmas, vast amounts of weird architecture, halls and other wide areas, anything that was open enough for a bat to fly into. He even discovered a number of oddly shaped rooms and spaces that could be either meeting halls or art exhibits of the grotesque.

While far from a perfect map, it would do.

For no reason whatsoever, this reminded him back of a time he and his friends had waged war against a drow surface city. The normally subterranean dark elves had built up in the arctic, with permanent cloud cover blocking all normal light.

They'd had a barbarian in the party who just happened to have been from that area, and so he'd summoned a horde of willing nordic savages for the assault. But it was the heavy hitting power of the drow nobles that concerned them, making it critical they be taken care of before the actual fight.

Jared had, in deliberate reckless boldness rather typical for him back then, as it annoyed those who were accustomed to his careful style previous, sent his character up to the front gates demanding their champion come out and face him alone.

He'd been fifth level, but hadn't thought a *surface* city would warrant anything notable from the drow. Their prestige spots were always in the darkest caverns. So he'd been rather unprepared when a twenty-seventh level high priestess of the drow's chief house answered his call. He *still* wasn't that level even now looking back on it!

In a word, he was hosed, and so he'd immediately forged ahead and stated that the challenge was to be three contests, with two victories deciding the winner, as if that was what he'd been planning all along.

She'd agreed, but insisted that the loser become the willing slave of the victor. He hadn't *liked* the arrangement, but considering how easily she could've killed him, hadn't known how to disagree.

He'd chosen as their first trial a particularly difficult style of an obscure variant of tea ceremony, feeling rather glad then that he'd always made a point of outfitting this character with odd skills he never would've given an ordinary adventurer.

He'd won, of course.

She had then chosen, as her contest, who could summon the best spiders.

As a fifth level druid and oriental wu jen, he'd not been *unable* to summon any, but was clearly beaten even before they began. Still, he'd tried and was defeated, spiders having always been a specialty of the drow, and especially their priestesses.

They agreed on someone relatively neutral to decide the third contest, and that worthy soul had decided upon a simple foot race, no magic of any kind. Jared really *didn't* know who the guy had been favoring, as there hadn't been a drow priestess alive who couldn't run a four minute mile.

But then, Jared's character had been a monk grandmaster and could outrun a gazelle in a short sprint or a wolf in a marathon. That was also one of the abilities the game master had previously told him he'd retained, and could use without upsetting his new studies.

The drow priestess had agreed anyway, and then began meditating. Jared never *did* learn what she'd been planning to try, as the neutral judge had declared the start of the race then. He had run it and returned without the drow ever stirring.

Escaping with his bound and tied slave had been interesting with an archmage and a city full of angry drow on his heels. Luckily, when the city's archmage had shown up on a tower declaring the contest invalid, basically reneging on their duel, Jared had a friend with magical arrows to pick the man off when he'd begun casting spells.

Very difficult to throw magic when you're swiftly becoming a pincushion.

That had been a successful and satisfying invasion, with plenty of loot.

Fighting off memories, oddly split between himself sitting at the game table and actually being the one there doing it, he pulled himself back to the present situation to assess his risk.

The idea here was that he was weak enough himself that merely risking combat was inadvisable. He didn't have a companion to haul his bacon out of the fire this time. So he retired a small distance to the city docks and summoned himself a small horde of rats, transporting them via his cloud to the Negaverse fort, and telling the little critters where they could go to find nourishment and places to hide.

Oh, and on their way would they mind carrying along these little pellets for him?

He almost hated to do it, rats were critters too. But they were among the least pleasant critters one could find, and they came in thousands. He exhausted a decent portion of his remaining spell energy forming tiny, time delay incendiaries for them to carry. Rats had no patience and less memory, they would drop the incendiaries all along their route. Which, considering that he'd sent them through areas with maximum soft stuffs, ie, kitchens and barracks, when the little bombs went off they would likely be among plentiful supplies of burnables.

He wondered if Jedite had fire insurance.

Best case: Massive damage, casualties, a weakening or possible destruction of the fort. Probability for that outcome was low. Worst case: No damage, a revealing of the scheme and possibly the mechanism behind it, his discovery and a chance that he might not escape. Also a low probability. Most probable scenario: Fires start, are dealt with magically before the damage can become too widespread.

Not satisfactory.

Some extra havoc needed to be thrown into the equation. Preferably one that left his enemies in a circumstance where dealing with one created difficulties dealing with the other, so there was a better chance that at least one problem would get out of hand and do some real damage.

He had just the thing. It wasn't a spell he'd used often, but it was too cool NOT to have in memory. He set up a contingency to evoke the enchantment right after the fires started, then flew away.

It was a fairly neat spell, really. A simple suggestion would be dropped into the brains of anyone looking at the fire, which was bound to be alot. It worked like the Jedi mind trick of "Credits will be fine" or "These aren't the droids you're looking for." Only in this case he'd loaded it with a suggestion not nearly so nice, set to aggravate conditions always present in an evil mind: suspicion and competition.

Anything looking into the flames at the moment that spell went off would receive, and believe, the thought: "Every youma around you is a personal and bitter enemy of yours, and a direct threat unless destroyed immediately."

That would probably be enough to destroy their fort. It should certainly throw a crimp into their plans to rebuild it.

Some would be immune, some would resist (he expected those to be few) and others wouldn't be looking at the fires in the moment the suggestion was triggered. He expected all of that to make little enough of a difference as the youmas that HAD been affected would drag the others in just as surely as if the statement was true.

Evil is selfish and self destructive. That same command reworded and given to the Sailor Scouts would cause them to stick their tongues out at each other and argue.

Here, there would be slaughter. They would make the words come true. When the thought was no longer magically induced the youma would already be embroiled in fighting that would keep them acting like they were affected.

After this the enemy would hopefully feel surprised and vulnerable. They would certainly tighten their defenses. But that was the point. Every battle capable youma on these walls watching to guard against *him* was *not* out prowling the streets looking for victims or gathering energy.

Jared could rest and regain his spell energy in a few nights. These guys had to pull their energy out of humans, and they couldn't do that standing on their fort waiting for him to attack it.

Cut off their supply, raid their forces, ambush their raiding parties... Starve them to death, kill them when they've weakened.

He LOVED to play the game!

OoOoO

The city slumbered until the rosy rays of the sun's earliest light.

Mina stirred not long after dawn's rosy caress reached inside her window and brushed her cheek. Having eyes blink open without fatigue, she sat up and shook her alarm clock.

"That can't be right! Artemis?" She shook the little feline.

"Hmm? What is it, Mina?" The little cat pulled himself awake.

She showed the alarm clock to him.

"Did you play with this again to get me up on time? If so, you forgot to set it forward instead of backward. Now I'm probably late for school."

The cat uncurled himself to check out the clock. "No, I didn't do a thing with it, Mina." He hopped to the window sill and glanced at the sun, then twisted to say to her back in the room. "The sun's in the right place. Your clock is accurate."

Mina dropped the offending plastic clock precociously back on the nightstand. "But that can't be right! If that were true I'd only have been asleep for four and a half hours!" She leaned out of the window to check the sun herself, then pulled back inside to scratch her head.

The cat returned into the room. "Maybe that Jared character had something to do with it. You remember how he cast that spell on you, saying that it would help you get enough rest?"

The girl's fist slapped down in her palm. "That's right! He said I'd get double the value of sleep for time! Well, four and a half hours doubled equals nine, so no wonder I'm not tired!"

She grabbed her robe. "I'm going to go down and talk with him!"

"This early?" The cat asked sleepily as he curled up once again.

Mina slid her sleeves on and belted the fabric closed. "Sure. Why not? He's sure to have used the same spell on himself, right? Nine hours rest ought to be enough for most anybody. I bet he's awake right now!"

She vanished out the door while the cat reluctantly returned to dreamland. He'd catch just a few more winks before heading down to see what they'd gotten up to.

OoOoO

Jared woke to Mina's happy, smiling face shining down on him.

As it had been for the past hour. (Apparently doting young girls do not trigger danger senses... They should.)

This morning was the first opportunity for her to get a look at him in the light of day, without darkness, the strain of evading the Negaverse or her parents getting in the way of her appreciating him.

And he was GORGEOUS!

She just couldn't get over this! When they'd met she'd known he was cute, but meeting underwater, in the dark, and with his helmet on most of the rest of the time (not to mention having plentiful distractions) she'd not known *HOW* absolutely good looking! He was *delectable*!

Seeing him stir, she became instantly mindful of the fright she must look, not having had her bath or done *anything* since she'd gotten up! With a sound like distant thunder, her footsteps faded to disappear in the way of the tub.

Jared woke fully, recovered in health if not in power, to discover Mina already occupying the bathroom. Heedful of the legends of females occupying bathing areas for extended periods, he cast a minor spell and was refreshingly clean in an instant.

Don't ask him why, but he carried alot of cosmetic magic memorized. Actually, most of what he carried were what he termed Utility Magic; the ability to build, repair, modify, etc. Combat had been so blatantly easy that a few direct damage spells had sufficed him. He'd have to reconsider that.

His clothes, like almost all of his belongings, were enchanted to remain clean forever and to shed stains, filth, contaminants and so on. Elves didn't need to shave, so that wasn't a problem. Which meant, in all, that his morning routine had just been completed.

It was disappointing in its way, what kind of milestone did he have to show that he was now ready for his day?

Oh, yeah. Garb in armor, belt on weapons. Somehow he thought his present hosts wouldn't appreciate that. Nor did he really want to go walking the streets of a modern city draped in enough jewels, gemstones, precious metals and rare artifacts (his katanas and the like), to stock a major bank with operating cash. Even if the petty thieves were kept in line by his portfolio of anti-theft enchantments (a necessity when you have a kender in the party) that would allow the BIG fish, government inspectors and assessors, to get curious.

"Not a bad trick you had there."

Jared looked down. "Oh, hi Artemis."

The white furred feline hopped up onto the sofa's arm, confident and glad that he hadn't missed anything yet that morning. "I was thinking that you and I could have a little talk."

The redhead cocked an eyebrow. "You sound like you want to know what my intentions are toward your daughter. I wasn't aware that you HAD one, and I wouldn't be interested in her if you did."

"Well, in a way, I guess it is kind of about that." The cat sat erect and curled his tail around his feet. "You see, I *am* Mina's guardian, and I'm the only one who's been able to help her through this. Now you've come along. It's hard not to be suspicious, especially with how powerful you seem to be."

Jared blinked at him.

"Are you suggesting... no, I can see that you are. Very well, what could I offer you to prove that I'm not some ravening thing about to betray you both to your enemies the moment I get the chance?"

"It would help if I were to know a little more about you." The cat offered.

Jared considered it, then nodded. "Fair enough. Do you want to hear about the rash I had when I was two or my high school GPA?"

The cat facefaulted.

When he'd recovered Artemis asked. "That wasn't *quite* the information I'd been looking for." ~Though Mina might be interested.~ "No, I was thinking more what your motives are for helping us, and what your powers are like."

"After all," Jared nodded, concluding for him what the cat wasn't willing to say. "I'm not from the Silver Millennium."

The cat just nodded.

Jared got up, moving toward the kitchen. He might as well make himself useful to the household this morning he was staying with them. He decided to cook breakfast for the family to settle his thinking while others went through the motions of getting up. Without even realizing it, Jared's background processes had labeled Mina and her family as allies, to be relied upon and protected as required.

Part of his mind even went through his catalog of magic items he himself had no use for, wondering which ones to pass on and increase his allies abilities, and what were most suited to give them.

"Okay, Artemis. I'm helping Mina because she is a good person fighting evil, just the same as I'd help anyone else in her situation, or what I would have done, minus some specifics such as offering to let her use some of my equipment, if there'd been no one here doing the fighting. I am a foe to evil. It's what I do, and I've got to admit that I rather enjoy doing it."

"So that covers your motive." Artemis jumped up onto the counter as the youth cooked, not that he totally believed in him yet, but was willing to listen for any obvious fibs. "Could you enlighten me a bit as to your power?"

Jared shrugged while dumping a selection of fruits and vegetables from one of his pouches. The cat's eyes widened and he sweated slightly as the youth began to toss them into the air to cut them with flashing strokes, then began to spread garnishes as the fruit fell perfectly arranged into their bowls.

While his hands were busy, Jared replied. "First, I'm a grandmaster in martial arts, following forms you probably wouldn't know anything about. That covers fighting ability and a ton of the speed. Then I studied magic, splitting my attentions between oriental, western, and nature. I suppose that you could say I was an oriental mage, but that wouldn't cover most of what I do."

Having momentarily forgotten what was traditional for a Japanese breakfast, he went on autopilot, but what came out was delicious; Loaves of elven bread, syrups of wild and exotic fruits that would've driven any botanist into fits, vegetables of strange colors and flavors, hefty mugs of brewed chocolate at a purity unheard of from modern manufacturing (and a resultant increase in how delicious it was), tiny candied tidbits of this or that...

... and one, entire, roast crab, whose jewellike shell was easily a foot across and whose legs were split to expose tender meat and curled delicately around bowls of sauces.

Artemis shook his head as he saw this meal taking form, the smell of that crab giving him an appetite. "I'm afraid I'm not aware of any mages on this planet since the time of the Silver Moon Kingdom."

Jared held a finger to his lips, indicating silence. A moment later, the cat heard the sounds of Mina's parents moving toward the stairs. The shower also stopped and from the bathroom came the sounds of Mina's getting ready to come down.

Jared quickly finished and began laying out the completed meal, putting on his own silverware and serving implements, glasses and china rather than searching for theirs. Which meant that the table soon glistened under gold, fantastic shapes of blown and sculpted glass, showcase fine china of rare and delicately applied glazes, crystal decanters of lovely etched scenes dewy under their chilled contents, and utensils of fantastic workmanship.

Adventurers believed in having hearty breakfasts, as every meal might be their last. So they made something of a tradition of grand spreads when they could afford them. Having plentiful extra-dimensional space available to him meant he could carry these sort of things in safety, even when getting bounced off of mountainsides. And the occasional sacked city yielded some quite beautiful things from time to time, not *all* of them had to be sold.

There were only so many uses for cash. Eventually you began to start collecting pretty things. Not that it hurt him having druidic powers to grow the plants and gain a regular supply of wonderful, even rare, foods at next to no cost. That combined with his ability to carry great volume in his magic bags and he was accustomed to being the party's cook.

Mina's family stopped dead when they came to breakfast. Her mother insisted on getting photographs before they ate.

OoOoO

Jedite returned to a fortress in shambles, his servitors mindless in their rage to destroy each other while the citadel burned to ruin around them.

His horror knew no bounds.

He'd just gotten *OUT* of a major chewing-out from Beryl!

In the face of such a loss as that last he'd been lucky to survive! It mattered not one bit how successful he'd been up until now, when his forces had been thrashed by an unknown and powerful foe it'd all been his fault. Driving off the surprise attack had been no help. The energy loss of having so many youmas destroyed, not to mention that sorcerous battle or the cost to his fort itself, had driven Beryl to fury. Without Prince Darien there to calm her she would have roasted him on the spot! It had only been his successes of *months* gathering energy, victory after victory that had let him survive his queen's wrath in the face of such an ignoble setback!

As two of his prized Sailor Hunter youmas tumbled across his throne in their eagerness to kill each other, ignoring the blazing ruin their antics caused as surely as they ignored the burning of the rest of the fortress, Jedite came to the conclusion that there was no way he'd get out of this alive.

The only question now was where and how to hide.

OoOoO

At breakfast Mina's father asked Jared about his acting career, which surprised him, and ended with him asking how they knew about it. Mina had rushed in to say that they'd seen the tape that had fallen out of his wallet, and could she keep it, please?

He found himself staring at his copy of Skysaber, The Motion Picture and felt the blood drain away from his face. Seeing his dismay, her mother had asked if there was anything in there they ought to know about.

Realizing that his reaction had been obvious, and able to tell from the mom's actions that she was highly suspicious (probably suspected some material in there not suitable for her daughter - and *certainly* not in someone dating said daughter) he found himself reaching for an explanation...

...and the explanation that came actually came from Mina, jumping in to say that all that anime stuff wasn't his choice of media, that it was actually kind of cheesy, and that he was looking forward to the release of his first real live action feature.

Jared caught a glimpse of a cat over his shoulder, behind her parents, as Mina finished saying this.

Her mother, still somewhat suspicious, asked if she could retain the video and watch it that day. And, seeing no other option, he'd conceded.

OoOoO

Mina danced as she walked to school. She would get to tell everyone about this handsome boy she'd met, and how he'd stayed over at her house, and the way he was so *dreamy*, and...

Her lunch bag swished beside her and she acquired a predatory gleam.

At the end of breakfast Jared had, with swift motions, cleaned and set aside the crab's jewellike shell, packed the remnants of their meal (still quite substantial in spite of their best and hungry efforts) into separate bags for each of them, even her cat, and distributed it for the day.

She didn't realize, but part of Jared's lower brain had mentally labeled Mina's family as 'party members', ie, those adventuring companions upon whom your life and welfare rests when the battle rises to its pitch.

Such people are to be taken care of to the best of your ability, on the unspoken assumption they will do the same for you. He'd also divided them into 'full members' of the expedition (Mina and Artemis), and 'followers' (her parents), otherwise known as the people to keep mostly out of the line of fire as they will be toasted instantly by any of the bad things happening to you regularly, and that by dint of experience and power you still manage to live through.

But as far as adventuring parties go: fix a big breakfast, bag the remains and distribute. That way a full and still fresh midday meal could be had out of the saddle or deep in dungeon pit without stopping to cook one.

Jared ran up beside her, dressed more normally, though with odd accents like blue leather bracers over his arms and a wide, almost cummerbund style belt with pouches hanging from it. "Hey! Wait for me!"

Mina twirled on him delightedly. "Jared! Are you going to walk me to school now?"

She blushed demurely.

He swallowed uneasily, then laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, you *did* tell your parents that I go to the same school. They sorta expected me to at least leave at the same time as you."

She beamed him a smile.

And continued to do so for almost a minute.

"Uhh," Jared hedged, edging away. "Look, there's stuff that I gotta handle. I'll meet you after school, okay?"

Tossing her a friendly nod, he ran.

OoOoO

Jared walked down the Japanese streets with flaming hair, wearing enough jewels and precious metals to stock a major bank with operating cash. This was less to test his anti-theft series of enchantments than it was an attempt to sidestep a major problem he'd been having.

Namely, Mina would rather oogle at him than tell him anything he might need to know in the task of saving her life and world.

Walking past a startled policeman, Jared strode right on into the grounds of a local university. He needed a fast way to get to know what was going on, and talking to people who knew what he wanted was his preferred method. A library would have directed him to the newspaper racks, any kind of journalism would've tried to interview him (and he wasn't interested in wasting his time with people more interested in taking information out of him that giving it to him) Police and government would be useless.

So he was at a school, whose job it was to teach people.

It was, of course, extremely stupid for him to be here in armor. Unless, that is, he *wanted* to gain attention. But if he were running the enemy side, their fortress would soon be an impressive array of guards and traps. So he would have to use other ways if he wanted to choose their next battlefield. And now was not too early to start.

The Negaverse would be looking for him as soon as they had their act together. Their common way of doing that was to attack somewhere and expect their enemies to show up and stop them. Trouble was, the bad guys chose where they were doing this and could easily (and often did) set traps. By making himself this obvious, they would most likely attack him without even thinking about it, which meant that he could be the one choosing ground and setting traps.

Every little bit helps.

He would, of course, hide like a rabbit in a convention of foxes afterward. But he estimated a 34% probability of his foes committing and losing significant forces, and a further 40% chance for them losing moderately to heavily, with only a 15% chance for them to suffer light casualties or energy loss, and a measly 11% chance for him to suffer greater harm than he could inflict.

Not bad.

He strode into the student center, picked up a class schedule and kicked back in one of the chairs to read. He was just at the point of trying to decide between one of the Journalism profs listed therein, a History teacher (his favorite) or accosting one of the faculty at random when he heard someone clearing their throat at his side.

"Hai?" He looked up, his helmet rendering his face featureless.

There was an extremely nervous security officer at his side.

Jared turned back to reading his schedule, asking. "Don't you think that if I were a youma I would have started killing people or stealing their energy before now?" He thought about it a moment and stood up, putting the class guide back on his seat. "No, don't answer that. I already know what the stock reply would be. Might I request to see someone in authority please?"

The guard was unprepared to deal with this. Pretty soon he'd return to base mode 'allow me to arrest you/escort you off campus.'

Frustrated, the flame haired youth walked out past the man. On his way out he caught a formerly oblivious student by the arm, asked her for help finding a teacher, and when the student pointed a trembling arm at a woman entering the Admissions building, thanked her, flipped her a coin, and walked off that way.

Trembling for an entirely different reason, the student bent down to retrieve the coin, spending long moments looking at it.

Gold. It was real gold, and heavy.

The girl scurried off, knowing where the next semester's tuition had come from.

OoOoO

Jared caught up to the teacher. "Excuse me!"

The teacher turned and her hair snapped out at odd angles. She dropped her load of books.

Okay, this was getting a *little* out of hand. He removed his helmet, hoping that a face, even one with elvan features and flaming hair, would calm her down to some degree. Then he bent to retrieve her books.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. There's no need to be afraid. I'm from another planet, here to help Sailor V fight the Negaverse. You might have seen something of our attack on their fort last night." He straightened up and presented her books back to her. She ignored them, clueless and vacant in her staring at him.

He sucked in a lip. He hadn't thought his appearance was *that* odd. Okaaay, press on and hope that the sound of his voice mellows her. He flashed her a winning smile. "But I'm afraid my ally has other business today, so I was wondering, would it be too much trouble for you to enlighten me as to the recent history of the conflict between her and the Negaverse? It would help me a great deal to know whatever you could add to my own knowledge."

Getting only a steadily increasing flush as his answer, the young man turned to perhaps find someone else to ask.

"NO, DON'T GO!" 


	4. Chapter 4

Skysaber's Choice  
Episode One, Part Four

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

Miss Ayumi was a teacher who seemed like she might do. In spite of the fact that she taught poetry she had several history classes.

She'd also insisted on serving him tea.

The campus student center had a rather nice breakfast nook and tea shop that she insisted on taking him to, her treat (not like he was worried about price). Stopping briefly by the teacher's lounge he'd been mobbed. It seemed like the faculty here was primarily female, or at least all those that followed them into the tea shop and crammed into the adjoining booths were of that persuasion.

The waitress who'd taken their order had to be jarred back to reality before she could go and fill it. Jared did not drink tea, but a nice cup of cocoa would be nice.

Every one of the teachers there had suddenly also ordered cocoa.

Weird.

Jared asked his questions, and was informed (often by committee), on what he had come hoping to find: Recent Events. Sailor V's past seemed mostly unaltered up through hanging out fighting crime in England. But when the Negaverse had attacked, Sailor Moon had never made an appearance. No Sailor Moon, no Tuxedo Mask, and all the other Scouts seemed to have remained silent as well. The teachers seemed clueless about any other Scouts even being possible.

So that confirmed Sailor V had taken the brunt of it all alone, not even Tuxedo Mask had been around to help her out.

From the sound of it, things started out fairly equal, with the usual plot and good guy confronting it style. But Jedite had grown in power rather quickly. Not that Sailor V wasn't competent, far from it. She just didn't have anywhere near the kind of backup Sailor Moon normally did. Despite her best and valiant efforts, Jedite had won a few battles, gaining in energy, which made him able to use more power to best her the next time.

Things had snowballed very quickly.

Lately Sailor V's efforts had become fairly pitiful. She'd grown in power really fast, as she was being pressed hard to do so, but still was nowhere near able to keep pace. Jared divined that he'd appeared at a point where the Negaverse had basically won. Jedite's youma were supercharged. He had enough power to casually construct a fortress and build a gate that would save him power in every youma he summoned.

The stories of the Japanese Defense Forces attack on the Negaverse fort had been pitiful and heart wrenching to hear. And the last time cops had tried to handle a youma had been far worse. Sailor V had *usually* been able to do something about it, but increasingly often the bad guys had taken what they'd wanted and left.

Total Negaverse victory, requiring only cleanup.

Jared had stopped them in the very act of killing Sailor V and ending the last thing able to put up a trivial amount of defense against them. He put down his cup, which he'd been holding with an occasional sip for the last hour (they'd been refilling it too fast to empty and get rid of), and nodded in gratitude to those teachers gathered around.

Actually, wasn't it more packed than when he'd entered? Save for his chair it had become standing room only.

Weird.

He pushed back his chair, ready to stand. "Thank you, ladies. Your help has assisted me in many ways. I hadn't known until now how bad things had become. Do not worry, there are things I can do to end this threat to your world."

There came a bloodcurdling scream from outside.

He cocked a grin and fired. About time they showed up. He was beginning to wonder about the Negaverse's lack of a decent response time. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm needed outside."

With that, he stood up. But access through the crowd was all but impossible, so he leapt out through their window, replacing his winged helmet as the shattered glass cascaded off his pearl clad body.

He landed to see a trio of dirty golem-type youma attacking a girl's marching band. He was actually surprised it wasn't directed at him. These guys looked merely to be out on an energy gathering mission.

Let's see, fireball would crisp most of the college (blast radius wasn't variable, and *would* fill a certain amount of space, that space being ridiculously huge by most standards), lightning would still strike too large an area, steam breath and others from among his best attack spells were useless unless he wanted to fry civilians.

So that left him with the weird stuff.

Mumbling the power phrase required to do this, he drew in breath and shouted with magical amplification.

The Taunt spell.

The magical ability to insult, jape and jeer in such an infuriating way as to cause bloody-minded rage in affected hearers so that they could not help but charge him with intent to maul in close combat, forgoing distance or magical attacks in favor of rushing in to do melee.

Of even greater benefit was the Taunt spell was racial specific, insulting youmas did not affect humans, or vice versa.

The humans were of a mind to run away, but most had been hindered from so doing by outright interference or simple deer in the headlights freezing. As Jared said some things that raised the hackles on his OWN neck they were so vile (being able to understand all languages was sometimes not a boon), the evil monsters turned on him and the people began to get away.

The trio of youmas charged.

He'd need to hold them for two minutes, then he'd probably have a free field of battle and be able to use his big attacks. Triggering a magical secret compartment in the heel of each of his boots, Jared jumped and came down wearing a pair of skates. His boots were already thickly enchanted, and even without them he'd trained until he possessed the ability to run fast enough to get a speeding ticket in a school zone. With his boots enhancing that he could run at comfortable highway speeds.

The skates doubled that, and allowed him a whole extra realm of agility.

Having added them to his training regimen allowed him to pull tricks unheard of by Olympic skaters, but more importantly, with the simple ability to skate backwards he could in effect be running full tilt the other way while still facing and fighting his foes.

The mage pushed off and described a wide arc around his enemies, his skates effortlessly taking him across the broad lawn, decorative gravel bed, fallen branches and even the watery surface of the fountain of the university's square as easily as the pavement while he was busy pulling out a longbow. They were too angry to use distance attacks, his speed meant he controlled the range, and they were about to receive the blessings of a full quiver. Life was too good sometimes.

After only a few minutes of this, he muttered dark things about not having found or made a magical bow when he'd had the time. Stowing the useless weapon, having proved it was unable to harm the youma, he considered alternatives. People had fled, but only so far as the nearest *safe* place to watch from. Any decent attack spell would still probably kill hundreds of them merely from secondary effects.

Perhaps it was time to adopt melee tactics instead.

Skating to a stop, he brandished a pair of magic weapons of his own devising. He'd long ago started this character as something different from the norm. He'd began without a sword or bow of any kind and did as many things to be different as possible. Part of that had been to create some spectacularly unique things (such as his armor) which he had later enchanted.

He was holding three of his Glorious Jade Flower Fans in each hand, each one carved from a different color of that precious mineral and gorgeously enameled with a variety of meltingly beautiful flowers in bloom.

Where most adventurers were plain and functional in their choice of armaments, (aside from as many enchantment items as they can find, that is) he'd gone as far as possible in the opposite direction, spending skill proficiencies to become a master in fine artistry and many related areas. The sources of pearl, jade and other things were provided by a detailed (and DM approved) history, and he'd launched a career using nothing normal if he could get away with doing something flashy, unusual, or ornate.

He changed his grasp and the blossoms changed to different, yet still beautiful, flowers, also revealing the formerly hidden blades along the rim and sides of each fan.

It was time to get back to his original basics.

Of course, it didn't hurt that later in his adventuring career he'd found a deck of Bloody Cards, magical throwing weapons capable of severing limbs at a stroke, if you could avoid chopping yourself to ribbons using them, that is.

Transferring that enchantment to his fans had made them considerably easier to use, safer for him, and more deadly for his foes as he was an accomplished specialist in their use by then.

It was also his habit to name his characters only after they'd been around for a while and had some personality. In fact, he'd even revealed this character's clan only later, after he'd acquired the magic skates and began using them in combination with his martial arts, when the choice of name had been obvious.

He set his first six fans flying and had launched a dozen more as the creatures closed the distance. Speeding in among his foes he cried out, still with his magically amplified voice. "Vile spawn of Negaverse pits! Learn now why I bear the family name of Sanzennin!"

He waded into them with blinding speed, cutting them with handheld and flying fans, catching and reflinging the glittering tools in arcs that described a lethal bouquet of flashing jade, using the blades of handheld fans to parry blows from demonic arms and leaving a bleeding track of fury as he skated between knees, under arms, around sides and flitted about like a wrathful mist.

Jared emerged from the far side and caught his returning fans, stowing them without shifting from his stance of conclusion.

Pieces of the three youmas slid apart behind him and their bodies collapsed with sickening finality.

He hadn't looked around, sure of his results. Turning now to face the piles of youma debris, steaming as they dissolved, he declared. "That wasn't so hard."

Sweeping his cloak around himself, he was gone.

OoOoO

"Jedite!" Queen Beryl sat upon her throne, scrying for the missing general. "Report, Jedite! Our flow of energy has been disturbed. Why aren't you doing anything about..." *gasp!*

Inside her crystal ball appeared the ruins of their Tokyo Harbor fortress, blazing as the youma slaughtered each other therein. Bits were even breaking off and falling into the sea.

OoOoO

Very possibly the weirdest thing, Jared reflected, was that his powers were not dependent on a transformation. His *STUFF* he certainly didn't want anyone to see him use outside of times and forms of his choosing. His spells were limited in spite of what he could do to make them otherwise, but his innate powers from race, class, his rebirth, and whatnot were things he could use all the time, in mixed company, without fear so long as he exercised a little care in keeping them discrete.

It felt very weird to be in a Sailor Moon world without that restriction.

Restoring his items to the extra dimensional pockets that he normally kept for them, he transformed to his 'normal' self at boyish age and rejoined the flows of traffic.

He'd about figured out now some of how things worked. Objectively, he thought from the data he had, that his attacks and powers were doing about half the damage he'd expect of them; that one hit point by a D&D scale, by which he'd been created, was turning out to be roughly half a hit point by a Sailor Moon scale, which included all the things he was now fighting.

A D&D fireball was one of the best spells for damage, and while he had other means to do that level of harm, nothing was really better. Which was pathetic, really, as Fireball was third level and there were nine levels of spells. You'd think *some* mage *somewhere* would've invented something that did damage a little more impressive. But there wasn't, or at least nothing he'd run across.

But anyway, from the formulas he remembered, his fireballs averaged about seventy points of damage, D&D scale, which made them about thirty-five locally. They could get lucky and do more, or unlucky and do significantly less.

The second weakest Sailor Scout attack did thirty points. Rini could do less, but any of the others were throwing at least thirty at a shot, their higher attacks did no less than twice that. A hundred and eighty at a shot was not impossible.

Of course, the flip side was that a Sailor Senshi could fling maybe a handful of those without recharging. If Jared truly wanted to get ridiculous about things he could fling a hundred fireballs. But that wasn't the point. A whole aspect of combat was being ignored there. One of the powers the Negaverse gave its forces was the ability to resist energy attacks somewhat. Their Energy Deflection power at its weakest gave them the ability to shrug off twenty points of damage from a magical hit, at the higher levels they were ignoring a hundred or more points of damage from every shot.

But if an enemy were merely ignoring forty, a hundred fireballs would only keep him warm.

That was where the Sailor Scouts commonly teamed up their attacks, or stood behind someone like Sailor Moon who'd worked hers up to such a level that she was basically a magical artillery piece.

Neither of which option did he possess.

The spells of the native casters could be changed according to the needs of the moment. They could be made to strike only bad guys, target their attacks, change the area they hit, or be maintained to keep an assault going against an enemy for a longer time. He, himself, could do none of those things. Nor could he cast, in conjunction with another mage, a spell and combine their power into a single hit. His magic didn't work that way.

So he figured was he was about the power level of a Negaverse general as far as sheer versatility from a volume of spells, the ability to do stuff like create storms, or illusions, or transform this into that. As far as being a sneaky, slippery eel in terms of magical tricks he rated quite high.

In terms of direct magical damage, and what he recalled his fireballs doing (or more to the point, *not* doing) to those ice dragon youma, he was more on the level of the most neophyte Sailors... which was frankly embarrassing considering he'd thought of himself as an archmage before.

This also explained quite readily why he'd always seemed to wind up losing when he'd relied on magic to fight around here.

Where he came into his own was his stuff, nobody in this entire universe carried such a entourage of magical trinkets and do-dads as he did, and in his close combat abilities, where his monk training and Kensai abilities still made him the meanest thing on wheels.

Not mean enough, though.

Thinking about it, if the health points went the other way, these guys doing twice the damage to hit points for attacks, then he could be removed fairly easily even by the meanest Negaverse mage. Two solid blasts from a power he'd failed to defend against and he was history. Not a comforting thought, especially when a little more thinking revealed there were Negaverse powers that *could* slay him in a single magical blow.

Also, there was this continual flow of surprises about twists from useful to non and vice verse he was experiencing with everything else.

For example, his druidical ability of changing forms. When a first edition druid hits seventh level he acquires the innate ability to transform himself into an animal three times each day. Very useful, as it grants combat and motive abilities not often appreciated by most gamers. The ability to become a falcon and fly one end of a rope across a gorge for the rest of the group to cross is just one of the staggering variety of applications. Listening in on conversations as a housecat, hound or an overlooked songbird is another. Never even mentioning how useful it is to become a tiger, bear or hunting cat when you have to fight and were deprived of weapons by something (and didn't have any martial arts training).

Staggeringly useful. Here he hadn't found a single instance in which it would be beneficial to do. He couldn't even go kitty cat without keeping an eye out for the pound. Never mention what would happen if he tried sleeping outdoors as a bear or tiger, a camping trick he'd once been fond of.

Then again, when those same first edition druids hit sixteenth level they acquire the ability to alter their appearance at will, acquiring the body and facial features of any human or humanoid sort, altering height and weight by as much as fifty percent each, with an apparent age from that of a child to very old indeed.

Nifty, but he'd never found a good time to use it in the game. Here it had swiftly become a cornerstone of life! There weren't any elves running around here to blend in with, not getting into such things as moving hair that danced like fire! Without the ability to blend in to people in general, merely getting along here would've been very difficult and costly in terms of spell energy, energy that could probably be tracked while his druidic ability couldn't.

And switching to full hero mode did keep whatever life he established on the side separate and secret.

If he could establish such a life.

Jared skipped up the stairs to the Cherry Hill Temple.

He had no idea of the street addresses of any of the other Sailors, but Rae lived in an obvious and findable place. He even knew, from an episode, what *bus* passed in front of it in case that became useful; the 66. Jedite had been hijacking them to take the people within and give their energy to the Negaverse.

Jared came to a stop when the shrine came into view. It was deserted. Strolling around to get a hint of why wasn't productive as it just revealed that nobody seemed to have lived there for a while.

The abilities of a ranger would have been useful here, but tracking was one of the things he'd never bothered with. If he'd wanted to find someone's trail he'd always counted on summoning beasts to do it for him, tracking ones with smart noses to follow on the ground and swift birds to observe from the air. But here there weren't any wild animals to...

The druid held out his palm. "Phobos! Deimos!" He called the names of Rae's two ravens, adding the power of a summoning spell behind the words. "I call upon you to answer in the name of your mistress!"

The two birds appeared after a short flight. He spoke to them with the force of a Speak with Animals spell, gained as a free ability from his monk training. "I am an ally of Rae Hino, come to aid her in her troubles. Can you tell me what happened to her?"

The squawks he got in reply translated freely in his mind and swiftly painted a picture identical to when Jedite had arrived and insinuated himself into the temple for that hijacking scheme, only this time it ended without the intervention of Sailors Moon or Mercury.

Rae had confronted Jedite and been dumped by him into that same part of the Negaverse where he'd been holding the girls captured in the buses that had been disappearing from the temple stop. Without any super powers Rae hadn't been able to get back out, but had sent her two ravens home to report this to her grandpa before the gate closed.

One more bus had disappeared after that, then suddenly no one had ever come to the temple anymore. Rae's grandpa had outfitted himself with traveling clothes and gone to search for his granddaughter. Jedite abandoned the shrine when it became clear nobody was going to risk coming here anymore, not with four buses of kids gone without a trace.

And so, since then, the inhabitants of Japan had been treating this as cursed ground, never going near it.

Jared began muttering things not complimentary to either Jedite or Sailor Moon, and went inside. There he found the room of the shrine's fire, now long gone out.

It somehow felt appropriate to reignite it.

In fact, even a little overkill felt appropriate. Jared wandered outside, teleported to another section of the world, using magic to search out his desired stone for building this. Finding onyx in a sufficient unspoiled supply, he obtained a block of it through the help of a summoned elemental, shaped it, and used extra spell power to teleport home with his find.

Mining was vastly simplified if you could speak to the earth and ask it for help.

Through his artistic abilities, aided by spells to speed the process, he finished the basin for the new fire, fashioning a beautiful work. After enspelling it properly, as was habit by now for any artwork he created, Jared put in place his creation.

It was a veritable fountain designed for flames. A large central bowl was made high and engraved very simply with images of firebirds trailing sparks as they circled in an open sky. From the highest bowl trailed streamers, bridges with grooves cut for oil or other material to pour down, leading to other basins about mid-height. These bore images of forest fires and volcanic spouts as were found in Hawaii, where lava flowed like water in grand and wonderful shapes amidst the splendor of living nature. From there, oil would pour down over irregular trails, too even for it to find any direct way (so that it would twist and wind with endless variety) into a large catch basin at the base, a pond of sorts whose wide, low flames should illuminate the whole work.

He was rather pleased with it, even after testing determined the oil flows had some minor flaws, which he corrected.

Jared stood licking a wide lollipop while he contemplated the final engravings. Twin pheonix spiraling up the main support, he thought, leaving trails of sculpted fire in their wake, and the base carved to simulate a vast volcanic basin. Yes, that ought to do nicely.

When he was finished, Jared reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a burning torch, one whose flames blazed brightly blue. They were otherwise perfectly normal, but he'd preserved them from long ago when wandering in strange realms and he'd happened across them. The torch was everburning, so there wasn't any fear about it ever going out. Jared applied it to one of the nine streamers running from the central bowl, and with both ravens still fluttering over his shoulders ignited the font with his torch.

He then applied the spells and magic necessary to make it a truly eternal flame. Nothing short of heavy magic would put this fire out again, nor would it require fuel, though any fires lit from this source wouldn't share those traits and would follow the trails of oil as dramatically as he'd intended while that fuel lasted.

He stepped back and watched the Pheonix Font (as he'd dubbed it and carved upon its base) burn to life. Okay, a fair deal of time wasted, and he'd spent more magic energy creating this than he had fighting the Negaverse last night, but it felt absolutely the right thing to do.

OoOoO

Nephlite stepped out of the Negaverse Gate into the blazing ruin their Tokyo fortress had rapidly become. Behind him streamed a good three dozen youma in good order.

"Enough!" He swept an arm dramatically to accompany the command. When the youma busy fighting failed to respond to his commands he ordered his own squad forward. "Go! Subdue all who resist! I'll have this place functioning again for Queen Beryl."

The squad of three dozen quickly beat or blasted into submission those youma fighting among the ruins of the gate room. Then, accompanied by their general, went further on into other chambers, subduing the strugglers as they found them, gradually growing in ranks as Nephlite reasserted his control over the defeated former servants of Jedite.

OoOoO

As Jared was preparing to leave the shrine he came to think a bonfire was also something he could use as part of a spell of scrying. While he could also have used a number of substitutes, he *needed* to find her, and searching for Rae through the use of fire also seemed only the most appropriate thing to do.

Returning to the right room, he cast his spell and looked into the flames. Unlike Rae, he had no ability to see past or future through this, but also unlike her, he was a trained mage and what he got was in surprising clarity and detail.

Jared saw Rae, trapped in a coffin-like block of crystal, her energy being fed through wires to an unseen distance beyond. On every side of her were dozens of similar coffins, the teenagers within them dry and husklike from weeks of prolonged energy drain.

The place this was instantly popped into the young man's mind. The bats he'd used to map the Negaverse fort had little to no ability to see color, so stone transparent to the naked eye had been solid blocks to radar. He'd put those coffins down as weird architectural details like the buttresses and columns. Apparently they were not so.

Also, apparently he'd have to go back into that fort.

Ick. Scary.

Rescuing Rae was one of his top priorities, but cutting off a continuing energy supply used by the dark forces was also high up there as a smart thing to do.

He stood, licking his lollipop.

Just how would he go about doing it?

He started to wander out of the shrine and the two birds appeared again, cawing and flapping their wings before his face in an obvious attempt to remind him of his duty to their mistress.

He bowed his head. "Okay, I will try." Thinking back on his ability to appear human via druidic shapechange gave him an idea.

OoOoO

Mina sat laughing with other girls by the time lunch rolled around. She'd already been able to tell a few about the hunk who'd stayed with her family last night.

While she didn't have any real close friends, and a number of girls thought her odd the way she was always disappearing during class or whatnot (thankfully, they just put it down to her being an unmotivated student), there was still great satisfaction in being able to start the rumor mill working in her favor for once.

Having actual people wanting to sit with her and showing them the meal Jared had prepared for her was reward enough for weeks of monster hunting! Eating it also added to the joy, and a few bits of shared chocolate got all sorts of girls willing to hang out with her!

Mina was happy. They weren't *real* friends, but they would do. Maybe soon she would get better ones.

OoOoO

Jared wandered the halls of the Negaverse fort looking exactly like a youma, because a youma was a humanoid creature and therefore something his druidic ability to change his shape let him appear as.

It even fell within his reasonable height and weight restrictions.

The sometimes redhead saw the fringes of a pulse of magic above him and looked skyward just in time to see a falling, pink haired girl coming right down on top of him. This was sufficiently unexpected that he caught her rather than stepping out of her landing zone, or, more intelligently, running for the hills.

Catching the falling girl brought her face within inches of his.

"Give me the Spellbook of Moonlight and Silver Dreams." She demanded.

He dropped her in shock, staggering away. "How do you know about THAT? You're supposed to be after the Imperium Silver Crystal! Look, you're not supposed to know anything about that or even *BE* here yet! And *certainly* not to attack ME! Why don't you go bug your parents?"

The little girl strode toward him menacingly. "I don't want the Imperium Silver Crystal. I *want* the Spellbook of Moonlight and Silver Dreams. Give it to me now!"

Jared rallied himself. "Look, we are in enemy home territory right now. I agree to discuss this with you *later*, but whatever you want, you are unlikely to get it if we both die from having a stupid argument right where the bad guys can destroy us both if they hear us, okay?"

The small girl looked rapidly around herself. "Eeek!" She screamed, latching onto his head and wrapping her body around his face, completely obscuring his view. "I DON'T WANNA BE HERE!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Jared heard another youma approach, and saw it round the corner just as he managed to pry himself a small space around her body to see through.

Suddenly, the young man in disguise cackled insanely. "Hahahaha! You're energy is *mine!*" He yanked the little girl off his face and held her by the throat, his body being outlined by a glowing light as he apparently sucked life force from the little girl.

Jealous and torn, the other youma wandered on, as if fleeing something. But Jared didn't notice except that it was gone.

He stopped glowing and applied a small healing spell to the girl, then brought his face to within inches of hers. "Look. Another outburst like that and I'll do something more than just glow, I *might* have to hurt you. Our lives are both at stake here, and stupidity will get us both very dead. So while I can fix it if I cut off one of your limbs to make a convincing show for our enemies, I'm certain you don't want to go through that experience. Okay?"

Fearfully, the pink haired spore nodded, but little rebellious tears at the corners of her eyes indicated that it was an uncertain obedience at best.

Change of tactics time.

Stow her in one of his extra-dimensional sacks? No, not enough air. He knelt down before her to get their faces on a level. "Look, Rini right? Are you willing to be a heroine and help me fight the bad guys?"

More willing acceptance this time.

He nodded gratefully. "So let's play dress-up. We want you to look like a bad guy so the real bad ones won't kill us while we wander through here. What would you like to look like?"

Rini thought about it for what had to be less of a long time than it seemed.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Something where I can keep an eye on you." She answered flatly.

Okaaaay, he thought. Stick her on my shoulder, disguise the join and pretend to be a two-headed youma? Not likely. That would cripple him if they had to fight, which wasn't as unlikely as he'd like it to be. Okay, so think of something that comes in pairs, preferably a smaller and a larger copy.

He shifted his features obviously, gaining a woodlike texture and having his hair trail down to the floor behind him in a single, whiplike tail almost like a string. Touching the girl, he cast a strong spell which caused her pink hair to rise up, instead of rabbit ears, to a single point, fluffing out at the base so that it looked somewhat like an upside down heart. Feathers grew from her ankles and she went a single, flat grey color.

"Okay, that was as strong a disguise spell as I could cast. From now on until we get out of here, I am Bowardia, and you are Arune. Bow and arrow youma, get it?"

Rini nodded.

"Good, because your disguise lasts less than an hour, so we've got to be quick." He ran down the hall, and when it became clear Rini'd have trouble keeping up, slung her under an arm and sprinted, feeling he had a right to go fast with this kind of cover excuse. They swiftly arrived at the coffin storage area. Jared dropped Rini to her feet and quickly examined a coffin. Finding the latch, he popped it open and flipped a small square of black cloth to Rini.

"Unfold that and lay it upon the floor, Arune. We need it to move these humans to a safer place." He growled in a scratchy voice, then winked at her.

Rini stared at him, then reluctantly began to unfold the portable hole, a magical storage device only accessible when it lay open upon the ground, and which could be folded again, and unfolded in a later place to find the same contents you'd loaded in before.

Unfortunately, as Jared scanned the chamber he was in, four bus loads of kids *FAR* exceeded any storage capacity he might have. He could carry a dozen people tops and he'd need eight times that capacity to move all the victims the enemy had in storage here.

Nothing for it, he began to pop open the crystal coffins and pull out the people inside as fast as he was able. Noting Rae he set her aside for special attention, then got another surprise when he came across Sailor Neptune, or what looked like Sailor Neptune in her non-Sailor-state, Michelle Chambers if he recalled correctly. Judging by how she'd fared so much better under the energy drain than the non-Scouts, he figured she probably was Neptune.

Putting her aside also, he ran as swiftly as he could to arrange to get all of the occupants of the coffins and in a rough pile, then quickly cast a mass polymorph to turn them all temporarily into small, plush dolls, save for the two drained Sailors.

Seeing his companion had finished opening up the device, he again acted as swiftly as he could to load in all of the plush dolls, then lay the pair of Sailors on top the soft cushion that made, cast spells upon them to reduce their air requirements (and wished he'd thought of that for Rini, but there'd be no way she'd put up with it now), and closed the hole over them, putting it back in his pocket.

He cast an illusion to make it seem the coffins were not empty, their energy lines appeared flowing and all as it was before, then Jared picked up Rini and made for the exit.

Only to run smack into a line of youma that began entering the room. Nephlite entered soon after, on the heels of a goon squad about sixty strong. Jared was swiftly running all sorts of combat scenarios through his mind, but nothing looked better than a fifty-fifty chance they'd developed a flaw in their base defensive enchantments and he could teleport out of there.

Nephlite scanned him up and down very swiftly, noting Rini in his arms. "You. Who are you?"

~He might not know? Stick with the disguise, man!~

In a gravely, youma voice Jared responded. "Bowardia! Arune and Bowardia have been standing guard!"

This earned a new appraisal from the Negaverse general. Looking around the chamber, and seeing his own youma had examined it carefully, there did not seem to be any more youma hiding there, so he pivoted on a heel and turned his back to leave the chamber.

"Follow me, Bowardia."

Jared did, Rini still under one arm. The other sixty or so youma followed as well. There was a chance he could strike the guy from behind and kill him, but no chance to escape after doing it. They would die, and, frankly, there were two more Negaverse generals after this guy. It wasn't worth the sacrifice at this time.

They arrived in a gutted out throne room, other youma fanning out all around them while Nephlite took the throne. A clear indicator that wherever Jedite was, alive or dead, he wasn't in power any longer.

"Bowardia, you are the only of Jedite's youma to have done something useful while the rest destroyed this place. I'm sending you on a mission." An image appeared of a high school. "Infiltrate this place and remain unnoticed til I call. I'm setting a trap for that new mage, and I'll need you in position."

Suddenly Jared's felt the strangest surge of power he'd ever experienced. Rini felt it too, from the way she stiffened under his arm.

"Now Go!" Nephlite waved a hand and the two fake youma appeared on the grounds of Furinkan High School.

Jared sought shelter then dropped his and Rini's youma guise. He wiped her face. "Man, this just gets weirder and weirder."

"Who was that man?" Rini asked.

"That," Jared sighed. "Was a Dark Kingdom general. He thinks we're working for him. We're not. But rather than *tell* him that I think we'll just quietly disappear."

"What did he do to us?" Rini inquired, clutching her Luna Ball to her chest tightly.

Jared shouldered the young girl and began to jog for Juuban. "He energized us with energy they'd stolen from humans. The thought makes me sick, but I don't detect any Geases or compulsions on us. I think he must have thought we were already loyal, and of course we *are*, just not to them. I'll run some spells to check us out more as we go."

"Where are we going?" Rini asked.

"First to a place where we can restore and return all those captives we rescued. Then, I think we'd better spend our time finding all the rest of the Scouts. Things are getting more troubled by the moment."

OoOoO

Mina was leaving her school when a commotion at the edge of her eye brought her attention to a couple of news vans whizzing by. Since that was as good a warning as she'd often had, she slipped away and transformed, making her way across the roofs to where whatever it was was going on.

As she was getting prepared to make a big surprise entrance (her favorite entry speech anymore was a Crescent Beam), she saw what was at the center of it all and stopped.

OoOoO

Jared chose a vacant lot (surprising how many of them he found, considering this was Japan with land prices as they were and so on), and got things ready for a big entrance. He wanted something flashy, to give people a focus for their hope, but at the same time didn't want to get caught or reveal anything he didn't want people to know.

Oddly enough, the timing worked out just so his illusion back in the coffin room ought to be running out right about now. That would create some questions over there. They might think their captives just vanished. Cool.

Rini had disappeared somewhere, so he went about this on his own. When he was ready he teleported above a sporting event that was going on, over a full stadium, wearing his pearl armor with the faceplate down and with his voice amplified.

Levitating above the stadium crowds, he began to shout before people could panic.

"People of Earth! I am the White Pheonix, also known as the Pheonix Mage. I have come to fight evil as I shall ever do and have ever done, and shall assist Sailor V in her fight to free you from the Negaverse which seeks to enslave. As a token that my words are true, this day have I invaded the enemy stronghold and brought back many of your sons and daughters that had been imprisoned there! Now I present them to you once again."

With that he restored his invisibility and faded from view, but the address of the vacant lot appeared in the sky above thanks to a handy illusion spell. With that, Jared teleported back to the lot and canceled the enchantments keeping the people as small dolls, letting the whole hundred or so of the rescued youths sprawl upon the lot with no evidence of his being there.

News vans and people began to arrive shortly.

OoOoO

Mina looked at the chaotic mess and began to scramble for thought. Here were over a hundred kids who'd obviously been drained of their energy! Whatever youma had done this was probably one of the nastier ones.

She began to wish Jared were here so that he could help out.

Twin red spots appeared on her cheeks. And if they got into a fight again she could watch that *cute* hiney of his as he beat the bad guys!

True to the worst prediction a youma appeared. It looked like another of those Sailor Hunter ones of Jedite's.

Ooh! Now she *really* wished Jared were here!

OoOoO

As he'd suspected, this kind of news brought the Negaverse. Jared watched as one of their really tough ones appeared. Then he smirked.

Nobody was going to get drained *this* day!

OoOoO

People began to panic as the reaction to the appearance of the youma spread like water from a breaking balloon. But even before the panic had halfway formed, the man in white armor appeared and began to attack the creature.

And what an attack it was! Shields and forcefields they'd seen stop Sailor V got punched through or broken. Then the monster was weakened by a dozen strikes from fluttering, thrown, multicolor fans!

The man in armor was just winding up to a big finish, standing back to get room, when, from the sky above, came Sailor V's cry of her attack phrase and the youma got blasted into dust!

The self-proclaimed Pheonix Mage tipped his hat, touching two fingers to the brow of his helmet in salute of their beloved Sailor.

"Well met, Sailor V. Nice to see you again."

"I'm SO GLAD to see you again!"

*Glomp!*

Lots of pictures flashing.

~Uh, this was not in the plan, guys.~ 


	5. Chapter 5

Skysaber's Choice  
Episode One, Part Five

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

The White Pheonix used his skills to extricate himself from Mina's tight embrace before the cameras could get more than a few seconds of Sailor V plastering herself to him, doing it without *looking* like he was rejecting her, just coming to the natural end of the hug.

Or so he'd hoped. When Mina plastered herself to him again he found he had the choice of either returning it before an audience consisting of a world via television, or rejecting her before that same crowd that just happened to worship her as their last and best hope against a monstrous evil.

Hmm, be a bad guy or a good guy... hmm, tough question.

He returned the hug, cursing himself and considering adapting a teleport to do a dimension hop to get out of this. But no, these people *needed* him far too badly to desert them.

Besides, Mina really *had* had it rough here all alone. Offering comfort to those who stood in need was in the job description of being a good guy, heroic or not. He'd just rather not to have to do it over live worldwide broadcast, that's all. People might get the wrong ideas.

Around him all sorts of people were getting the wrong ideas.

Bravely, perhaps foolishly, he ignored them and began to stroke Sailor V's long hair, banishing his armor and murmuring soothing words of comfort into her ear until she ceased the sudden crying storm she'd summoned up, either from desperate need or he didn't know what.

So he just held her, not deigning to figure it out just then.

Things proceeded from that point for several silent minutes, until some unseen emotional switch got sufficient input to flip settings inside Mina. Instantly she went from emotional basket case to that plucky Sailor he'd always thought of her as. She wiped a few tears from under her mask and released _most_ of him, still retaining hold over one of his hands as she uncurled herself from around his chest.

Oh, were people about to get the wrong ideas from this or what?

Those people proceeded to get VERY wrong, from the Pheonix' view of course, ideas. It didn't help that Mina was among those getting them. No doubt all the little floating hearts forming around her, the blowing sakura petals, the background music, all contributed to this.

That wasn't any spell *he* knew and he was beginning to feel it was dangerous.

The Pheonix Mage wiped a lock of fiery hair out of his eyes, glancing aside to Sailor V who was still retaining her hold on his hand and desperately tried a change of subject. "So, Sailor V. Why don't you use the Unicorn Scepter now?"

Sailor V stopped gazing proudly at him as if she'd just accomplished something both difficult and wonderful, at least in *her* eyes. "Huh? Oh." She hauled the item out. "How do I use it anyway? It wasn't something you spent a long time explaining."

He shrugged, finally managing to extricate his hand from her grip without being obvious about wanting so badly to get the shakes and climb up a tree and hide. It's not that he was afraid of *HER*, it was fear of what she'd gotten everybody *thinking!*

A guy could get a bad reputation that way!

Unconsciously, he took a step away from the maiden.

"I built it to heal people. You'll find that it deals with most things VERY well. The only weaknesses are ones I'd rather not disclose in public because you can guess as soon as the bad guys know them that's what they'll use against us most often. But for healing LARGE groups of people this excels. Trigger the light show while intending for all these people to get healed, hold it high so the light spreads a little more effectively, and you've got it. The general setting cures *alot* of stuff."

Mina glanced at him, her costume not obscuring much of her face, then gave a little shrug and held the scepter high above her, shouting. "Venus Healing Power!"

Jared winced. The words were not necessary.

Sailor V twirled in a large circle, building radiant light and dancing lines of energy as she posed.

~Okay, this was *also* not in the rulebook. The Unicorn Scepter didn't require any of that. So why was she doing it?~

Sailor V brought the elaborate scepter back up to a rigid upright position, held it before her closed eyes, then opened them and with a rush of power unlike anything he'd *ever* seen, the familiar sizzling chime of the rod rang out, followed by a wash of orange white energy over the entire lot and field, parking lots and nearby buildings, not to mention camera crews and apartment complexes.

Jared lurched somewhat inside the magical field, feeling his linkage to the rod he'd created suddenly cut. Watching Sailor V with astonishment, he saw his scepter change within her hands, altering to soak up part of a strange flash of light from her forehead and its colors change and its shape slightly warp.

~Somehow her magic has changed it so it's not mine anymore.~ He belatedly realized, wondering what kind of magic she'd run over it, probably unknowing, to pass over and overcome the spells he'd laid in that thing when he'd created it.

He was beginning to feel *very* out of his depth here.

Of course, no one *else* he knew of had an anti-dazzle spell going to protect their eyes in this. He invoked an illusion and fell, rolling away and hiding among the bodies, blending in as a suddenly lanky fourteen-year-old with freckles, wearing the uniform of a different school. He could re-link up with Mina later.

He needed some time to think and he needed it *bad!*

OoOoO

As the light cleared away the effects were astonishing, even to Mina. Hundreds of people, the drained students rescued from the Negaverse, bystanders, passers by, those who had come to witness this, the television crews and all, were all filled out and healthier than commonly seen in a modern world.

Cries and exclamations were made as men who'd suffered from ailments they'd been on costly treatments for were instantly cured. Pains were relieved in people who hadn't know they'd had them. Long term problems were cured, including men who'd lost eyes, hands or hearing in accidents. Women with mastectomies found their breasts restored and straining at their present garments. Other problems too many to name had been cleared up by that single flash of light. Some would not be discovered for weeks or even months, others may never be known at all as no one knew to look for them or what they'd even be finding.

The bodies of the drained kids were restored to more healthful frames, which meant recovery would be swifter, but only a very few stirred or began to get up.

~All *very* interesting.~ Jared pondered, deciding to be one of the bodies that got up and moved. Michelle and Rae were not among those rising, but would probably be cared for until they were able to stir.

The healing of blindness, deafness, and so on was expected. It was what that rod could do, as well as curing diseases, poisons, or minor damage from wounds. The spontaneous regeneration of lost body parts had been quite a surprise, though, as that was *not* a capability he'd built into that thing. At least not on this scale. That would've normally taken the rod about a week per person, and then it would've prevented it from being used for other important functions.

~So, in addition to her taking it from me, her magic also overcharged it, raising its power beyond design specs.~

Jared sighed as he wandered away. So *many* things he was unclear about. A short-term loan of an important object had just become a lasting loss. He'd thought his spells binding that scepter to him were well nigh unbreakable.

Obviously not.

He didn't have any of the ingredients handy for making another. So what could he do about it? Nothing, for now. He couldn't afford any side quests for items to make a replacement, and he couldn't spare the time even if he had them already. Making an item of that sort was a process months long.

So he could just resign himself to being without for a while. He couldn't recall the Scouts getting a month long break *ever!* Much less a few of them to run together.

Thinking on what he *could* do in a short time, he wandered into a real estate office.

OoOoO

Mina was depressed. Artemis ran at her side as she dragged her feet toward home.

"He could have stayed a little longer."

"Well, he *did* drop you off that nifty artifact." Artemis tried being helpful. Sailor suited warriors had never been all that common even in the Moon Kingdom, and Mina was the only one he'd been able to reactivate, or even find. He couldn't afford to let her get down.

She had to remain at her full potential!

Mina sniffed, not even being able to toy with the rod and feel better. The scepter had vanished back into storage space when she'd relaxed her costume, and while she *could* haul it back out to look at...

Mina paused, looking in a store window at the rack of TVs. No less than three of them were displaying that sequence when she'd healed that crowd, and others were of newscasters talking about it. Another was a university being interviewed where the Pheonix Mage had made his first public appearance, apparently he'd talked with some teachers there and stopped a youma raid.

She paused again at the rapt crowds all around her, absorbing the news. She couldn't haul out that scepter in *this* company! She'd get pegged for sure! It wasn't as if it was even as normal looking as her disguise pen.

Her footsteps started again toward home. "I don't think it's a good replacement, Artemis. One more nifty toy isn't going to turn the tide against the Negaverse. He did."

Artemis now felt bad about having convinced her that he'd seen the boy vanish when that light field had played. He'd seen *something*, but couldn't be sure that was him jumping back to his home universe as Artemis had told Mina.

Now he was beginning to question why he'd done it. Sure, the boy had been a distraction, an unknown, and potentially dangerous. But Mina just looked like she'd had the fight taken out of her from it!

This wasn't any good!

How were they supposed to be able to beat back the weakened Dark Kingdom with their only Scout and protector depressed like this?

OoOoO

Jared stood behind a railing looking down over a large manufacturing area. The number of factories that remained operating in the district was startlingly low. The costs of staying in business had risen beyond most corporation's ability to tolerate; workers drained, factories destroyed by youma raids, even Dark Signatures being slipped onto products and distributed worldwide to immediately debilitate customers so that public opinion went awful and good advertising simply wasn't able to erase the stain on a corporation's image.

Jedite had been a busy little devil for a few weeks there, only stopping now that he wasn't in power any longer. And who's to say what his replacement would be like? Nephlite was inheriting a position totally unlike what Jared had seen him with. That would change his approach somewhat at least, possibly quite radically.

The people of Japan didn't even know that Jedite was gone.

As a mere fact of staying alive as businesses, industry had been moved to other countries and other areas of Japan. One or two had folded because no one had been willing to pay the price of the land they were evacuating, stranding the companies with no money to establish themselves in other areas. Many tried to remain out a sense of national loyalty, others were fleeing like rats out of a proverbial sinking ship. Nissan, for example, was doing everything possible to remove any image of having once been Japanese, after a shipment of Negaverse marked cars had caused worldwide fatalities when the drivers got abruptly sucked of their energy all at once and collapsed at the wheels. Thousands had died and the lawyers were still just beginning to rack up the potential damages.

America was not the only nation to practically ban all Japanese imports. Many corporations were just abandoning their Japanese facilities as a write off and relying on established manufacturing they held in other countries.

The result was empty warehouses, vacant factories, abandoned buildings and land prices plummeting, taking large parts of the economy with it.

The growing fear was that the nation of Japan was dying. Actually, the death blow had already been dealt, it just took time to feel these things. Jared didn't care about that. People he cared about. Nations were unimportant, just a way of organizing people. And if that organization failed, just organize them differently. It wasn't a big deal.

There was a cycle of life for all things, nations and businesses among them. It did no good to preserve them when they'd decayed and their time had come. Spend your efforts instead seeing to it that the replacement was better than what it replaced.

Stagnation was not the way of nature.

Jared looked to the anxious real estate woman at his side, hovering above him in spite of his present youth making them nearly of equivalent size. She was freezing in winds that her business suit did little to stop, but she made no complaint about wanting to return to the car.

"I might be better able to help you if you told me what the manufacturing needs of your family are." She chattered, turning slightly blue.

"This is the largest you have?" He asked in return, unaffected by the wind but willing to cut this short for her sake. It was unseasonable for it to be this cold, this gusty this late in the year. But his typhoon had messed with a few things and it would take a few days in settling down.

The real estate saleswoman went over to the hood of the car and unfolded a map over it, using her purse to hold down a corner while she used her hands for the rest. She outlined a large area of her map.

"All these industrial parks are for sale. Three of the companies owning them have folded and the titles are held in estate, waiting for buyers. These others are held by companies who are willing to sell to fund their movement overseas. This one right here is active, but they might move for a price. If you wanted the *largest* spread possible we could combine these areas here, here and here, along with that, and give you this whole area." She circled a vast tract. "So you can see the possibilities. We can fit in almost anything you might need. What portion of that land do you think your family might want for your business?"

Jared looked down on the map, then up at the agent. "What kind of terms?"

The freezing lady in her business suit shrugged, wiping hair out of her eyes that was being driven by the wind. "I don't think they'll be very flexible. They need to get a certain price to fund their relocations. The ones from the companies that have already folded will be held to cover their debts, which are large. Too much negotiating room has been eaten up there already. But normally there'd be no way this amount of land would even be for sale. We used to have waiting lists for lots. Now not even the banks are buying land, the price is falling too fast. Not even investors are going for a grab at it now, it's too risky. I don't know why you or anyone would want to move here."

The situation she'd just outlined was one of economic collapse. Banks calling in loans, driving businesses bankrupt, selling land that no one wanted so suddenly they weren't even able to cover their own losses.

The Great Depression had been started similarly.

You never realized how fragile a modern world was until parts of it started to unravel. It could only be guessed whether this destruction would be limited to Japan. The government could fall and not be missed, others had before. But when the banks *and* the government went together...

Well, Rome had fallen too.

He pointed to the area she had outlined. "I want you to get the current asking price of all those, and any other contiguous lots you can. Then I want to get an option to buy on every one of them."

The real estate lady wiped hair again from her eyes. "How are you intending to close? No bank is going to give you a loan for this area. They've lost too much money here already."

The young man shrugged, unaffected by the winds. "Cash on the barrelhead. I want to get the lowest price each of them would be willing to take for cash on close, if you can. Then I need somebody who can do the paperwork to transfer title in less than a week. But first I need the options to do some negotiating elsewhere. Can you do that for me?"

The freezing lady brushed her hair away out of her face again. "I'm going to need some kind of earnest money to cinch those deals. They aren't going to want to listen to an empty promise."

Jared laid two gold ingots on the hood of her car. The metal buckled under their weight. He snapped a polaroid of it and had her sign the photo as a receipt. Then he nodded. "Contiguous parcels only. If somebody in the middle of that doesn't want to sell then I can look in the Philippines or elsewhere."

The agent said nothing, but in her eyes was the concept that nobody who was waffling would be willing to risk the wrath of their neighbors who *needed* that sale to go through.

The lady was now ignoring the cold as easily as the wind continued to whip her hair. Her commission on a sale this size would be enormous. "I'll have the options in your hand today." She promised, eyes not straying from the marks denoting purity and ownership on the two ingots.

OoOoO

Jared lay Rae Hino on her bed in her room in the shrine, then stood up, talking to the two ravens that hung about him worriedly. "She ought to recover in a few days, which puts her weeks ahead of any of the others, except her." He waved a hand at the next bed, which contained Michelle Chambers, the thirteen year old not-yet-activated Sailor Neptune.

He'd been quite surprised when his RPG sourcebook had said the outer Scouts were the same age as the inners. Seemed to be borne out here, though.

The two ravens settled on her windowsill.

"Oh, hush." Jared waved at the birds. "She'll recover, don't you worry. It's just that... what is it?" He rose and looked out to where the birds were pointing with their beaks, seeing something he had trouble believing in.

He quieted both birds, then manifested his cloak and slid into shadows while slipping it around himself, invisible now from two sources, magic and skill.

OoOoO

Jedite smiled to himself. His disguise was *perfect!* He'd just conceal himself in this place, disguised as an ordinary mortal where he already had an ID and wouldn't be forced to draw on Beryl to create one.

He would be safe. She didn't hold an accounting of his actions back when things were going so successfully. All she'd known was the wealth of energy he'd brought in. Minor expenditures had gotten ignored, and now would be far to late to track them. There was no way any of Beryl's agents would find him here.

It was the perfect setup. He could lay low, just collecting energy on the side in case he eventually needed a peace offering to redeem himself. He would restart the shrine, and... Urk!

Jared leaned back, straining his arm muscles as he tightened the garrote now presently wrapped around the Dark General's throat, cutting off breath but not yet cutting off that general's life.

Not yet.

"Okay, Jedite. Start talking." The general heard a voice he couldn't recognize whisper in his ear, the garrote relaxing slightly.

Jedite was sprawled face deep in the leaves he'd been sweeping, Jared's knee in the center of his back, held imprisoned by the youth's weight even while the young redhead grabbed both of the general's arms and hauled them around in a powerful hold. Not yet breaking them, but on the verge of doing so.

Jared *really* wanted to know why Jedite had showed back up here in his guise as Jed, the assistant shrinekeeper. The identity he'd used back when he was kidnapping busses.

Jedite stammered, his face deep in the leaves. "You *must* forgive me! This was all part of a plot to... seduce Sailor V! Gain her confidence and get her to reveal... Uhhhhhhh..."

The general gave a long sigh as he slipped out of the land of the living into the land of the Eternally Sleeping.

In this case literally. The general would be far more use if he could answer their questions and Jared both didn't trust the man, was unsure he could hold him captive in a regular sense, and wasn't willing to fool around with necromancy and Speak With The Dead spells. However, dream magic *was* something he knew a few things about and getting the flustered, off-guard general to succumb to a spell of Eternal Sleep was probably the best way to deal with him right now.

However, a condition had to be set for his waking. It didn't have to be a *likely* one, but one had to be set anyway.

Jared spoke to the softly breathing body below him. "You will awake when you can obtain the forgiveness of the rightful ruler of the Moon Kingdom for your actions."

There. Wasn't likely to happen, and difficult to circumvent. Perfect.

Jared got off of Jedite's body, releasing his garrote and sliding it again into his sleeve. He held out a hand to the body, commanding with a spell. "Sleepwalk."

The general's slumbering frame got up on to its hands and knees, then to its feet, following the direction provided by Jared's will without the general's even being aware of it.

The redhead nodded, satisfied. Now he could just put the... Okay, where do you put the body? It had to be somewhere where the Dark Kingdom wouldn't find it or they might rescue him. It would be awkward to have to explain to the neighbors, too. Also, there was the tiny little problem of how was he going to keep him here without Rae flying off the handle the first time she saw the dark general? She knew who and what Jedite was and wasn't likely to hold any fond memories of her time in those coffins.

Jared spent several moments considering it, then knelt down and summoned an elemental from the force of Earth. When the humanoid shape had risen out of the earth before him, the young mage paused before addressing it.

Okay, something was wrong here. Perfectly ordinary elemental, registering as the real thing to all his practiced senses.

So why was it a perfect copy of him? Naked, but not anatomically correct, thank Heaven. And its material was still obviously earth and stone. Otherwise a perfect copy, even as to size.

Come to think of it, the only other elemental he'd seen since coming here was the one he'd summoned that morning, to recover the onyx he'd needed to make the Pheonix Font. That too, had looked just like him. Pity he hadn't thought more on that at the time.

That bothered him. Elementals were supposed to be hulking, featureless bipeds of no distinct shape or form, and he could shave by this copy in front of him. If he ever needed to shave, that is.

It was unlike any elemental he'd ever summoned before, earth or otherwise.

Jared experienced a moment of distorted feelings at that. *HE* wasn't the mage here! That was his character! Recalling elementals he'd summoned before was not helping any!

The trouble was, he'd always just played to be himself. He was having a crisis of identity here because there was nowhere he could think of to draw the fine line. The one personality was pretty much identical to the other, that left only skills, memories, and past. But even memory and past were shared, just from different viewpoints.

He began to realize that he really was merging seamlessly, and it was not as comfortable an arrangement as he'd been planning.

Then again, he was still himself. Did it really matter all that much?

Jared addressed the creature. "Go below this hill and fashion caverns for me there. They must be strong, and show no outward sign of their existence." Thinking about it for several long moments, he put various needs together in his mind, along with the things that would meet them, and conjured up a handy illusion to show a small scale, three dimensional design of what that needed to be to his elemental servant. "It should follow this pattern, but be fit for our habitation. Now go, and tell me when they are formed."

The elemental sank back into the earth. Minute tremors followed.

Jared satisfied himself for the meantime by laying Jedite in some bushes and covering him with a fine layer of dirt and leaves. The dark general's need for oxygen was practically negligible in that state. With a face covered by leaves he'd be good for years.

OoOoO

"Ah. So, finally awake, I see."

Michelle Chambers came swimming to awareness to see a young man's handsome face gazing down upon her. He put aside the cup and washcloth he'd been using to wipe her face and asked. "Feeling better?"

The maid's mind spun for a bit, then she asked. "Where am I?"

He smiled. "You are in the Cherry Hill Shrine.

"How did I... how long was I asleep?" She asked, looking up at him.

The boy sucked in one of his lips. "Hard to say, somewhere around a month. I think."

The young maid blinked, utterly astonished.

"I... I..."

The redheaded young man moved halfway across the room and sat down, so she could have some space from him. "Do you remember coming here for a good luck charm?"

Michelle nodded a little frightfully, her aquamarine hair bouncing.

The redhead smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry. I'm not going to harm you. You see, that charm was a Dark Kingdom trap. They got about a hundred people like you with them. The shrine priestess, Rae, figured it out and confronted the demon who'd been doing it. But he was *far* more powerful than her and so she was just added to the catch with the rest of you. I don't know if you recall anything about what happened next, but you were all put in a specialized prison sort of thing where the Dark Kingdom drained your energy for a couple of weeks. This explains your present weakness and the reason why you've been asleep for a few days after your rescue."

"Rescued?"

He shrugged. ~Okay, she wasn't razor edge sharp at the uptake, but she'd just gone through alot. It wasn't unexpected.~ "Yup. A hero named the White Pheonix went into the Negaverse fortress and hauled all of you guys out. Then Venus... err, Sailor V did what healing on you she could, which was alot, and then you had to rest for awhile. Most of the kids rescued wound up in ICU being drip-fed and cared for by nurses. Odds are they'll start to wake up soon. A few have already, but not many. You're one of the first."

The not-yet Sailor Neptune sat for a long moment getting that all straightened out in her mind.

She looked up at him. "Why am I not in a hospital like the others? Did you care for me?"

A sharp nod. "Yup! Wasn't any hard thing to do, so I did. Besides, you're one of the best fiddle players I know." His eyes sparkled. "We couldn't have that being ruined by someone putting tubes in your arm, now could we?"

She blinked several times up at him. "How do you know about that?"

Jared gazed at her. This was probably a good time to tell her, he thought. Might as well get it over with. He leaned slightly forward. "Because I'm the man who rescued you."

He didn't know what sort of response he was expecting, for her to blush was *not* it. His face opened in wide eyed curiosity when she ducked her head to the side.

"Thank you."

Jared smiled. "Not a problem. Anything else I could help you with?"

Michelle looked up at him again. "Have you notified my parents?"

The redhead was astonished. Why had *he* never thought of that? He shook himself slightly, then blushed, embarrassed. "I'm afraid I don't know who they are, or your phone number or address or anything. Sorry."

He pointed to a phone before she could ask.

Michelle, moving very carefully in her weakened state, went over to the phone and dialed a number. Out of curiosity, Jared cast a quick and silent spell and listened in.

* Ring... Ring... Ring..* "Hello?"

"Mom?" Michelle's gasp sounded surprised at the voice that answered.

"Yes, darling. Your father and I were just going out on the town. Can we do anything for you?"

"No mom, thanks." Michelle hung up.

Jared spent several, long moments pondering that, and why the Sailor Scout looked so dejected. Then he put it together. Her parents were famous musicians as well, and they frequently traveled. Thus the surprise in hearing them, and the lack of notice that she'd been gone for a long time.

That would have to hurt.

Gently, the young man crossed the room and lay a hand on the dejected young lady's arm. "Hey, you gunna be alright?"

The young lady nodded... in spite of the fact that she was crying.

Oh, why not? He hugged her, soothingly. "Shhh, it'll be okay. C'mon, I *know* how you feel. And so everything will be alright. How about we take your mind off it and call some of your friends?"

Michelle was shaking her head, crying more openly now. "I don't *have* any!" She bawled out.

"Pish-tosh." He pish-toshed. "You've got me. And when the priestess wakes up here in a while, *she's* a great person, you could be friends with her. She even sings, and composes too. You could really like each other, would be my guess. You've both got lots of things in common," ~like being Sailor suited warriors of love and justice, but you don't know that yet.~ "And you're good people, too. Do you think I would've gone into that place to save you if you weren't?"

She shook her head, still crying, until he thought of something on a less fun note.

"Uh, hey?" He whispered into her hair, doing his best to be comforting, keeping up the hug as he addressed his own concern. "Could we keep that part about me saving you guys a secret? I can show you proof and all, I'm not trying to take credit for a thing I didn't do, but it would be a BAD thing if the bad guys got an idea of where and who we are. I can pass myself off as normal, but normal isn't any great disguise if they know which guy to look for." sigh. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is my secret identity now, and it would be awkward to have that secret blown. Okay?"

A nod.

Sheesh, this girl was as desperate for friends as Mina! He ought to introduce them to each other sometime, though he'd have to head off that sexual aberration Michelle normally manifested. Marriage between a male and a female was the only sexual arrangement that was condoned by his religion. Besides, he was a druid, a nature priest from the D&D game, and anything that played with the powers of reproduction and failed to produce kids was a distortion of the natural way and to be avoided.

He would have to guide her onto an acceptable path. Trouble was he had no idea how he'd DO it! Who understood girls' thinking anyway?

OoOoO

"Mina!"

No response.

"Mina!"

"Go away, Artemis." The response was mumbled into a wet pillow, soaked from crying. "I don't want to fight demons today."

The white cat looked down from his perch at the young blonde curled up miserably in her blankets, from which she'd not arisen for more than a few hours in the last few days. Even the news reports, which ordinarily got her so perky, failed to rouse any attention with their glowing reports of her healing the crowd, or the speculation on that young man.

Artemis began to realize he'd screwed up badly.

During that last demon attack Sailor V hadn't stirred at all, and now that the time they'd gained from that boy's assault, weakening the Negaverse fort, was running out, if he couldn't stir the girl into some kind of action soon, the world was doomed!

Too bad he was stumped.

OoOoO

Mina's concerned mother poked her head once more into her young daughter's room, saying softly. "Breakfast is ready, dear."

"Thanks, mom." Murmured a lumpy pillow. "I don't feel hungry, okay?"

The mother spent long moments thinking desperately of anything she could do. She sighed sorrowfully. "Alright dear. I'll save some in case you get hungry." It would just join the other wrapped packages in their fridge. She'd cooked fresh each day, hoping some scent would entice her sorrowing child out of her depression, but to little or no avail.

They'd be eating leftovers for a week if... *when* their daughter came out of this. The woman stood at the top of the stairs and shook her head to her husband watching below. Both were very concerned.

"It's that boy, isn't it?" The man asked as his wife came to join him at the table.

She nodded, not yet seating herself, and sighed, shaking her head. "She's got it bad. I wish there was something we could do for her."

But their daughter just wouldn't talk about it.

Mr. Lovejoy folded his paper and set it aside, then rubbed his glasses. "Well, I've called all of the local video stores, but they've never heard of this actor. I thought a few new tapes of his might cheer her up, but no lice."

"No dice, dear." Mrs. Lovejoy corrected. She crossed over to where their lone Skysaber tape lay, picking it up. "Have you tried calling these studios?"

The husband shook his head. "No, those are international calls. But I've spoken with some local ones, trying to get ahold of whatever complex he might be working in. No duck."

"Luck, dear." The wife corrected.

Suddenly a very *odd* thought occurred to her. It seemed just odd enough that on a whim she tried it. Still very concerned, the mother picked up the phone, speaking aloud to the dial tone words she'd learned from the movie still laying atop her VCR.

Mrs. Lovejoy cleared her throat, then began to repeat. "An emergency situation has arisen. As of now, 0800 hours, we need the Skysaber."

"Acknowledged." Came the curt reply, which actually shocked the woman more than a bit.

She set the phone back down in its cradle and looked at her husband.

Both blinked together.

OoOoO

Jared was laying out on a lawn chair, the not-yet Sailor Neptune not far to his side sunbathing on a tarpaulin, Rae bundled up in blankets between them on her own lawn chair, the sleeping patient was being given her daily sun.

Jared's watch began vibrating so hard its shaking disturbed him instantly. By reflex he glanced at its face, reading the information displayed there.

"What is it?" Michelle looked up, not having heard the silent alarm. They'd both been talking about general things. Him trying hard to figure out when would be a good time to introduce her to the fact that she was a superheroine.

He'd tell her now if he'd any idea how to get her a transformation pen. But the two cats were far away and the one he knew to have the pen was unaccounted for. "Sorry," he damped his watch. "Duty calls. I've gotten an emergency alert. I'll be back when I can. There are people to save!"

He suddenly looked around. ~Okay, what to do for fast transport?~

Jared snapped his fingers, then began searching through his pockets. "Now where did I leave that...? Aha!"

Somehow, he pulled out of his twisting and searching a racing motorcycle. The youth mounted it, gunned the throttle, and grinned. The ability to create an object like this was probably the most peculiar spell in all of D&D, so of course he'd learned it. No magic items or things worth more than their form could be created by it, but in a world where technology worked that left some pretty gaping loopholes!

He flipped a cheery wave to Michelle and tore off, the cycle pulling a wheelie as he took off down the shrine steps. As this was Skysaber that was summoned, he didn't go for his White Pheonix outfit, electing to alter his clothes in the middle of a jump so that he was wearing a Tuxedo and Mask.

Tradition.

He began chasing down the signaled coordinates.

OoOoO

Mr and Mrs Lovejoy looked up from their meal as it was interrupted by an explosion bringing over half their front wall down with it. In the clearing rubble was a young man wearing immaculate formal wear and with a shining beam of light held like a sword in one hand, obviously scanning the room for enemies.

The couple merely sat, unable to even blink.

Jumping free of his motorcycle, the youth bounded about and ran through the lower story, then clipped the stairs with a hand and vaulted his way up, darting into bed and bathrooms as if expecting an attack at any moment.

Not finding one, or anything evil, invisible or unsavory lurking about, the young man came back downstairs, apologizing. "I'm sorry. Did any of you see a great evil hereabouts? I got an emergency call. Oh, hello."

He lifted his mask and bowed. "Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy, how nice to see you."

The couple could only STARE at him.

Jared changed his position and cocked his stance toward the blown out wall. "I *am* sorry about that, but you'll never know what a great advantage it is to *surprise* evil foes. Oh, well." He stepped toward the blown out ruin and raised both his hands to it.

"Fabricate."

And as quickly as that, the wall was repaired, though his motorcycle now stood inside on the rug. Sorrowfully, the youth then turned toward the couple. "Are you sure neither of you saw a rampaging youma or anything like that?"

They both shook their heads, unable to speak.

The youth rubbed his chin. "What could the emergency be, I wonder?" He could erase their memories of this incident if he could only find the cause of why he'd been summoned there in the first place. No need to go destroying information until you knew what you needed to have.

Mina poked her head outside of her room, curious at the strange figure that had poked into it momentarily. Suddenly the pajama-clad girl was exploding down the stairs, streaming tears of joy in long rivulets and flinging wide her arms.

"JAAARED!"

Power Glomp!

"Oh!" Sob. Clutch. Nuzzle. "Artemis told me you'd *gone home!* I was so afraid that I'd be alone again, and..." Eyes streaming tears met his.

"I didn't *want* to fight evil all alone any more!"

Jared cleared his throat, looking to the side. "Ah, Mina, not to be rude. But your parents are watching."

Mr. Lovejoy dropped a fork. It bounced on the carpet.

Pajama-clad Mina wouldn't let go of his jacket and was still crying. "I don't care. Do you know how many times I've almost died all alone out there fighting youma? The job of a superheroine just isn't *worth* it without friends or anyone there for you! You *promised* you'd help me as much as you could!" He got glared at by a tear-streaked face. "And LEAVING is *NOT* what I'd count as helping!"

"About that." Jared decided he'd ignore the couple gaping at them from the table for the moment. "I've locating two potential allies. We should be able to get you some assistance out there from now on. There are other Sailor Scouts, you know."

"Hey!" Artemis cried, his tail standing erect. "Don't go talking about that before witnesses! And what do you mean about finding allies, anyway?"

Mrs. Lovejoy looked at their cat. Her husband fainted, then came awake again when his head hit the carpet.

"You know," Jared broached delicately. "We *might* want to hold off on all of this superhero, go out in the middle of a night and fight bad guys, topic until we have a private place to talk."

Mrs. Lovejoy came up from around the table and came storming up to them, her husband trailing by a little.

She poked Jared in the chest, carefully avoiding hitting any part of her daughter which was wrapped around this target, soaking it with tears. "YOU." Suddenly she ran out of things to say.

Her husband appeared behind her. "I hope your intentions toward our daughter are honorable."

Jared pointed a hand, "Sleep," then stared at them when it didn't work, taking a quick glance down at his fingers.

"That won't affect them, they're too worked up now." The cat confided, hoping for a way out of this somehow.

The redhead turned to address the feline, awkwardly as he still had Mina trying to pretend she was part of his body. "That's ridiculous! I've used this spell against ogres and goblins that were worked up into a bloody rage, and others fighting to have me for their supper! They'd only be able to resist..." He paused. "Actually, I *don't* know what the conversion point is. But usually only experienced adventurers can shrug this off."

The stern mother commanded. "We are experienced *parents*, thank you very much. And if you think raising Mina hasn't been an adventure..." she shook herself. "YOU, young man, are quickly going from the frying pan into hot water if you don't explain things soon!" Mrs. Lovejoy poked him again in the chest, still not hitting the daughter clinging there and quietly wetting his shirt front with her continuing tears, ruining his summoned clothes.

Jared found the urge to groan. Apparently Mina came by her habit of misquoting cliches naturally.

He plucked off a glove, then took out a sheet of paper and held it in that hand while he pulled out a burning torch with his other. While he held the flame below that first arm, fires curling up to claim the paper without affecting the hand that was holding it, he replied. "Make it as hot as you like."

Both parents backed off, stunned. Mina even Eeeped when she saw it.

Not that she'd release him or anything, though.

Not even close.

She just switched her glomp to the other side while mysteriously keeping hold of him. There was no way he'd escape *that* easily!

Skysaber returned the torch to its fireproof and extradimensional bag. Then he relaxed, and moved toward the sofa, having to lift Mina to carry her there so he could move. Setting her down once there, he sat beside her (as there wasn't any way *not* to), and addressed both parents.

"Well, what would you like to know?"

Everybody started talking at once. 


	6. Chapter 6

Skysaber's Choice  
Episode One, Part Six

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

Mina's parents sat at their dinner table, enjoying a relaxing meal.

Jared leaned against the outside door and wheezed. "Ouch. That took alot out of me."

Artemis was standing atop Mina's shoulder. The young girl now wore a jacket and proper outside clothes for the weather, and the cat curled close as he commented. "I'll bet. Altering memories like that has *got* to be draining!"

Jared shook his head. "No, that's the easy part. I could've done more than I did, a little more than three and a half hours each. Luckily I didn't need to. I just replaced my breaking in their wall with my showing up at the door, Mina coming downstairs, and them giving her permission to go out on a date."

"A Date!" Mina's eyes sparkled with flashy motes.

The redhead was slightly shocked at how well she took it. His defense of 'It was all I could think of' died in his throat. He motioned towards her house. "Well, you *are* missing a meal."

Zip!

Jared looked down to find Mina glomped onto his arm. "No, that's alright. So, you want to take me out to dinner? I guess I could do that."

She tried to be coy.

It didn't work very well.

It was delightful, though. He decided she could use some cheering up. Jared found himself blushing, but went with the moment anyway. He shrugged nonchalantly, beginning to walk down the street. "Sure. There has to be a restaurant around here that charges five hundred dollars a plate. But first we'd have to get you an evening gown. Fortunately there's a seamstress in one of those fashion boutiques that could get you fitted for a new one and have it ready by tonight. I'd have to replace my suit, of course, but that's something that I can do easily. Then we can catch a play or a movie or something, your choice."

Her eyes were glowing.

"Now's not the time to be joking. What about those allies you mentioned?" Artemis broke in.

"Who was joking?" Jared responded. "Extremes can be fun! I've got the cash, why not? But okay, if you insist. We'll go check on them and then order takeout or something."

Mina shot hate-filled glares to her cat, making little red daggers in the air.

Artemis sweated. ~Man! This guy was dangerous! He'd have to do something soon before Mina became totally devoted to him and forgot to remember the Moon Kingdom at all!~

"Ever been on a motorcycle before?" Jared asked, going over to the vehicle.

"Tourbike, rocket, hog or musclebike?" Mina happily responded.

"Well, a knockoff of the Yamaha Rapier was what I had on hand. But if you've a different preference..." The youth began.

"Wait up a moment!" Artemis bounded after. "What did you mean about that thing you did to Mina's parents taking alot out of you?"

Jared paused. ~A decent question. Yes, it deserved an answer.~ He sighed, dropping his head. "I don't like mucking about with minds, Artemis. Without your memory what are you? You can change a whole person just by altering what they remember. I don't feel qualms about dropping a few hints of remorse into bad guys, or details in a new policy 'recalled' to get a stuffy bureaucrat to do his job. But to take away someone's memory of something when that person is ostensibly my ally... There's the standard excuse of 'They're safer not knowing', but I find moral and correct procedure is to be honest in all my dealings, and feeding someone a fake memory just seems like lying."

The young man shrugged, raising his head and sprouting a grin. "Besides, they resisted it so powerfully I don't even know if the new memory is going to hold. For now it's convenient if it will, but I'm not going to shed any tears if it won't."

OoOoO

They arrived at the shrine to find Michelle had passed out trying to move Rae back inside. While the two ravens flittered about them watchfully, Jared checked both girls carefully for wounds, fed Michelle a healing potion just in case, and then gently carried the proto-sailor Neptune, and then Rae, back inside.

"How did you know about this place? Is this where these girls live?" Mina asked, hanging onto the doorframe to gaze on his hunkmeister-ness.

Jared knelt beside the bed and tilted a potion into the mouths of each sleeping maid. "I don't know where Michelle lives, but I left word with the people sorting this out where her parents could find her once they heard. This shrine belongs to Rae's family. Her grandfather is the head priest here. There," he stood up. "Neither one will require food or water for another seven days. So even if we don't stop in to care for them often enough they'll still get better."

Mina just stood staring at him with little hearts in her eyes.

"Why are you taking such a personal interest in them?" Artemis asked.

The redhead waved, presenting both prone girls. "Artemis, Sailor Venus, these are your allies and extra Scouts: Mars and Neptune. They don't know who they are yet, but I do."

Mina's glaze cleared from over her eyes and she stood recovering herself, now focusing her attention in on the girls she'd previously ignored. Then her smile lit up the room. "You mean... MORE help! Oh, Jared, you *shouldn't* have!"

*Glomp!*

"Uh. Well, we needed the allies, really."

"Um..." A quick disentangle. "Hey, look..." He caught her face, beaming at him and lost the ability to speak.

Jared started backing out of the room, away from her. "Uh... How about we get you home?"

Mina shook her head, golden hair flying. "Our date first." She insisted.

Artemis looked at the badly drained girls, then at the redhead hanging out with his charge, and bounded off after.

OoOoO

"So what do you want to do together besides dinner?" Mina asked, hugging Jared's arm as they walked along toward some restaurants and one of the more active shopping districts.

"Several things, for one since I've found those two other Sailor Scouts, they'll need protection. We've got to talk about arrangements for that."

"About that." Artemis chirped up from behind, trotting along near their ankles. "How do you know who they are?"

The redhead smirked. "I've got full information profiles. Ooops, sorry. That's a line for when I get by... err, well, for when... Um, never mind. Different universe. Let's just leave it that I know all the Scouts by sight, even in their civilian forms."

Artemis did not comment, just looked more and more suspicious.

"Hold on a second." Jared stopped and sized up a building they'd been walking past. "This is important. Now where do I...?" A spark came to his eye and he grabbed Mina's hand and pulled her inside the lobby. Looking around, he nodded to himself.

The redhead turned to his female companion. "Mina, do you feel that?"

Casting her senses about, the girl nodded. "The Negaverse! There's so much background of it anymore that it gets hard to tell, but this is close!"

He pointed to a classroom on the board that served as directory for the building. "There's where we'll find it, I'm fairly certain."

"Right!" Mina ducked into a ladies room to change. Jared dashed for the men's.

"Hold on a minute!" Artemis jumped to stop them as both youths turned to climb the steps a moment later. "How do you know all these things, Jared? Mina, we ought to at least get an explanation for why he knows exactly where to go. You recognized this building, didn't you? You know what's going on."

The youth, now in Pheonix mode, could only nod his head. Tell the cat this was a TV series? They'd only think he was lying. "Yes." He jumped clear over the cat and began running up the steps.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Sailor V raced to follow him.

"Hang on! Wait up!" Artemis rushed after the two.

They came to the head of the stair in time to see the last of some incredibly sick looking, drained students dragging themselves into a classroom.

"That looks like the place, alright." Mina nodded.

"Wait!" The cat caught up with them. "How do we know this isn't a trap?"

"Of *course* it's a trap, Artemis." The Pheonix Mage reproved. "Standard youma setup: Drain humans through an activity they normally spend energy on, in this case study. Have a youma gathering part of that to power itself and funnel the rest into the Negaverse. When the trap gets sprung is when heroes like us go in there to shut it down. That's when the youma reveals itself and we have to fight it to win."

Sailor Venus was blinking up at him. "Wow. You've been doing this a long time, haven't you? You got all the facts right. I say we go in. Between the two of us we ought to handle it pretty well, and this is a cram school. They oughtn't to be draining students who are trying to study."

"So we're agreed." The Pheonix mage leapt down the corridor and demolished the door to the room with a flying leap kick. Behind him, Artemis almost sank his teeth into Mina, demanding an emergency conference.

"Can... can I help you?" An emaciated, blue-haired girl struggled and stood up from her desk amidst a field of Negaverse-drained, zombie-like students as the boy crashed the door down.

The Pheonix' eyes scanned quickly and caught sight of the supposed teacher of this class. Detect Shapechanger on top of a running Detect Evil and it was obvious what it was, even if he hadn't known from the series.

"I am the White Pheonix." He pointed a finger at the teacher youma. "And I have come to destroy that youma."

Crowded Classroom = Smallest Spells only.

"Magic Missile."

A brief machine-gun style blast of glowing projectiles rocketed from his finger toward the teacher, impacting her chest without ill effect. The badly-drained Amy was astonished to say the least, but was even more amazed when the teacher she'd been studying under for weeks transformed into a youma.

The youma laughed, facing the Pheonix Mage. "This is a cram school. We want answers. What's 355x268?"

"95140, and your point being?"

Energy rushed from the pearl clad youth in a wave, crippling him in an instant. ~IDIOT! She's a teacher youma! By answering you admit to being a student. Student + Teacher = You're in her power!~

As the youth fell to his knees in agony the youma laughed. "Hahaha, you're a good student. Such delicious energy! I'm giving you two choices. One, you surrender now. Or, two, you surrender later."

He struggled to raise his head an inch. "I... drop... out..."

The hero gasped as the energy flow stopped from him. Systems status check: Life energy in turbulence, spell points drained, no spells available to be cast without a new energy supply.

~Prepare to be mauled, imprisoned, enslaved, or worse.~

"Venus Power: Meteor Beam Shower!"

The Negaverse demon got struck in the chest and illuminated, which didn't stop it laughing maniacally. "Ha! Is THAT the best you can do? I've been gathering energy for the Negaverse for over a *month!* I am now one of the strongest of Beryl's youma!"

"Not strong enough..." The Pheonix Mage mumbled. "I coulda taken that easy. You're a wimp."

Mina stared at him while the youma got angry. "Oh, so the student needs a little discipline, does he? DIE!" Thousands of glowing mathematical symbols appeared in the air and sped toward him. The mage merely held up an arm and the entire barrage fizzled away.

He stood up again, feeling better. "That's the first time one of you has thrown an attack at *me* rather than the area I was in or at my spell defenses." He replied cockily, then flashed the blue leather bracers he wore. "I was almost wondering when I'd get a chance to use these. Ray of Enfeeblement!"

A ruby beam shot from his finger and illuminated the youma.

Mina was staring at him again. "What *are* those things?"

"Storm Bracers, magic items of my own design. One of their powers is to absorb direct spell energy and let me use that to power my own magic. It has limits, though, and from the power of that last blast I know I can't stop another."

The youma still was reeling from the last blow. Unlike any creature he'd ever hit with that strength-draining beam, energy was actually diffusing off of the demon rather than just rendering it feeble.

Venus dropped another meteor beam shower on it, scorching it slightly.

The flame haired mage grinned. "Looks like I've found a magical attack that can actually *do* something! Let's try another: Internal Fire!" He clenched a fist at his foe.

Flames gouted from the mouth, nose and eyes of the youma as it burned apart from inside. It screamed in agony, but in the midst of falling threw a dunce cap at the Pheonix Mage, point first. "That's it! You FAIL!"

Senses read the incoming as an object, not pure spell energy. ie, not something he could stop by absorbtion even if his bracer wasn't already full. The Pheonix Mage tried dodging the incoming magical object, but it homed in on him, phased through his attempt to parry it and sank deeply into his chest, going right through the armor. The youth fell to his knees even as the youma dissolved into motes of black dust.

Students collapsed in an untidy mass of drained and wasted bodies now that the control over them had been broken.

"JARED!" Sailor Venus grabbed him and pulled the offending spike out of his chest. It'd punched through his breast plate easily, and the hole it left was large and ragged. Instantly, Venus was pulling out the scepter he'd failed to reclaim from her. "Scepter, I want you to heal Jared again."

There was the sizzling chime and the globe of light appeared, but the hole only closed a tiny bit.

"That's alright." Jared wheezed, purposefully reverting to non-hero mode in case he left consciousness. "The Crystal Unicorn Scepter you hold wasn't intended to heal injuries.. *cough*.. so much as remove curses, poison, disease, and things of that nature. The real strength of the scepter is that it can heal crowds of people all at once. What it can do for real wounds is somewhat limited, only about as much as it takes to kill an ordinary person. And people like you and me take far more damage than anyone remotely ordinary. There's not much it can do for us when we're bad off. At least not often, maybe once a week. But I believe you used that aspect earlier when restoring lost limbs to that crowd."

Unless her powers had changed it more than he thought, but then it would have healed him, or more fully succeeded when she'd tried.

Jared sighed, blood drooling from the side of his mouth. "That's okay, though. Injuries are what the armband is for..."

He saw Amy limping up, and closed his eyes. "Amy Anderson. I am the Pheonix Mage, also known as Jared.. *cough* .. and this is Sailor V. Amy Anderson, you are Sailor Mercury, and we need your help to fight the Negaverse..."

He lost consciousness.

OoOoO

"This guy gives me the spooks." Artemis spoke from standing on the youth's heavily bandaged and now slumbering chest.

"Shhh! My folks are coming!" Mina hissed.

Mr and Mrs Lovejoy entered the hospital room where Mina was staying by the bedside of her hero. "Mina!"

Grasp. Hug.

Mina's mother spoke into her daughter's hair. "Where have you been? We've been so upset when you called us from the hospital! So many things have happened today! We wanted to tell you but you didn't come home from your date!"

Mina spoke from within the squeeze. "I was here at the hospital watching over Jared, mom. Look, this is Amy Anderson. Her mother is the doctor that did the surgery that saved him."

"I'm pleased to meet you." Amy bowed at the waist without getting up. "Please forgive me if I don't stand. I'm afraid I've been a little weak this past month, even my grades have suffered." (She almost got a B once.)

Instant release of daughter to greet daughter's friend. The appraisal met with approval. It was nice to have her daughter picking up a social life again, the mother had worried so after they'd left England. "Oh, don't mind, dear. No doubt one of the epidemics going around Japan. You'll get over it soon. That's what we wanted to talk to you about, Mina-chan."

"Oh?" Golden hair swung as a gaze oriented on a mother.

Said mother bobbed a *very* happy grin. "Yes! Do you remember that tape this young boy was carrying! Well, it turns out that it was only a documentary! He's *really* a superspy with technological powers here to defend us against evil! He has a laser sword that he calls a Nerd Toy, and a laser pistol! He'll be able to help that *other* new hero that's appeared earlier this week!"

"What are you talking about, mom?" Mina worried.

Her father spoke up, straightening his glasses so he could tell his daughter face to face. "You remember we watched that tape? This boy is Skysaber, the international superspy adventurer!"

Mina waved that thought away. "Aw, C'mon dad! That was just a movie! Can't ya get it together? He *said* he's an actor!"

Amy giggled from her seat. "It must have been a very convincing film."

Mina's parents shared a glance.

Could they tell that girl about the secret? About calling the boy's secret alert code and having him answer within minutes? Doing just what they needed, too, taking Mina out for a day. She was obviously back to her chipper self, though on that thought Mina's mom made a note to talk to her daughter later and find out if anything like *that* had happened.

There was also the curious matter of how he'd gotten injured. Helping fight evil, perhaps?

"Well," the father said. "I've never seen or heard anything about this, and it was so well done. Besides, there were other things I couldn't explain about it just being a movie. Why you were in it, for example."

Mina's face went pale. "*I* was in that film?"

Her mother nodded. "Yes, as your mother I ought to know your voice, and it was your face we saw cartooned there. It was you, as near as we could tell. I *think* I even recall seeing your friend Amy in it as well. Can you explain that?"

Neither Mina nor Amy had any response to that, too stunned to move.

The white cat between them blinked, then frowned.

Mr Lovejoy sat on the side of the bed, addressing the girls further. "And do you know what else? *Another* spotting of that Pheonix hero occurred today!" The man and his wife proceeded to tell the two youngsters, in detail somewhat fuzzed by rumor and speculation, what apparently was the common account of what had happened in the fight at the cram school, put together by police after the fact.

Mina's mom told her that they'd tried to let her know, but she'd been off with her date and they had no way to reach her.

"Oh! I know something about that." Amy chirped in helpfully. "I was in class today going to that same school. The Pheonix Mage came and showed us there was a demon acting as our teacher, and destroyed it."

Amy blinked at Mina's frantic attempts to shush her.

The parent doubled in excitement. "Oh! We've got to go tell our friends!" They chorused, then vanished like a flash of light.

"Thanks alot." Mina sagged. "Do you know how hard it is to fight monsters and avoid suspicion that you're doing it?"

Amy cocked her head. "But why should what I said have anything to do with it?"

Mina met her eyes. "Because you're the first person to be awake and remember seeing him after his fight with that demon over where he saved those guys who'd been kidnapped. Everybody will want to know about it, and what he did, and so it'll be hard to avoid attention for a while!"

Amy drooped her head. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be too hard on her, Mina. This monster hunting is new to her." Artemis spoke comfortingly where he was curled up on the comatose boy's bandaged chest.

Amy shot him a grateful smile, then looked concerned. "About that, I don't mean to pry, but what you're doing sounds awfully dangerous. We're sitting next to proof of that right now." Neither had to point to the injured boy to know what brought him there. "Are you sure I want to get involved in it?"

Mina just bowed her head, but Artemis answered. "You don't have much choice. If you are Sailor Mercury then you are one of the people the Negaverse will make a special effort at hunting down and destroying when they..."

"That's enough, Artemis." Mina cut her cat off. She raised her face to stare at her soon to be friend. "I'm sorry, he gets carried away. Look, this isn't something that's alot of fun to do, but you can't imagine how many people are counting on us. Sure, I've had to risk my life, but I've saved so many people. It's alot harder alone, I can't express how much it helps to have others along." Her eyes glimmered and she gave the slumbering boy a glance. "Since he arrived that night we've hit the Negaverse alot harder than I've ever done when it was just me by myself, and every time we hurt the bad guys we save a ton of people. You remember how bad it was when the Defense Force attacked that harbor fortress?"

A grim nod from Amy, her mom had had to help out during the aftermath and had let some stories slip.

Mina forged on. "And can you picture what it would be like if the Negaverse was in control? Things would've been getting that way already, I couldn't stop them anymore. Then Jared came along and we've been able to really stop their attacks again. I don't *know* what another Sailor Scout could or couldn't do to add to that, but I'm willing to bet that the more of us there are working together, the safer we'll all be... *and* our families."

Amy began nodding in newfound agreement. "Okay, what do I do?"

The sometimes Sailor V glanced to her cat companion. "Artemis?"

"Right, Mina!" The little cat rose to its feet, poised and then jumped, turning a flip in midair. A small brooch with the symbol for Mercury on the cover fell out of midair at the apex of the flip and the cat caught it and landed with it in his mouth, placing it on the covers of the bed.

"Here, this will be your brooch to transform into Sailor Mercury. We used to use pens, but Mina discovered they're just too easy to lose, especially in the heat of battle."

Amy picked it up. "Okay, what do I do?"

Mina shrugged. "Just lift it above your head and say whatever comes to mind."

Amy complied. "Mercury Power!" and a ribbon of water wrapped around her suddenly empty outlined form, transforming into a Sailor suit. Hundreds of snowflakes settled on her arms and legs, forming boots and gloves, then her jewelry, sailor tiara and earrings, appeared with flashes of light.

"You really ARE Sailor Mercury!" Artemis cried out in wonder.

"Hey! I feel better than I have since I started that extra credit computer course at that school you saved me from." Mercury's smile faded to a frown. "But what is that strange feeling that I'm getting? Something is not right here."

Mina perked up, her attention caught. "It's probably the Negaverse! Those trash, they probably found we were in this hospital somehow!"

"What do I do?" Mercury inquired.

"Hang on a second. Artemis, turn your back while I transform, okay? Venus Power!"

No talking took place as Venus' flashy transformation took place, then the two Scouts were both listening to their other senses. "You're right, that *is* the Negaverse feeling. They're doing something in this area! Maybe they know Jared is injured here?"

There came a groan from the bed. "And why am I not regenerating *this* time?" The youth asked.

Mercury bent over the prone redhead. "I'm sorry. My mother had to sew you up, and they didn't want to risk infection coming from germs of the surfaces of your jewelry. I'm afraid they took your armband and other things off."

The youth sat up, holding both hands to his chest. "I wish people would stop doing that. Um, and why are you two in Sailor costume? Am I that ill?"

"Nope, it's just that we think the Negaverse is near." Mercury reported in a friendly manner.

"Alright, I'll help." Jared replied, then had pause. "Uh, oh. This is trouble."

"What's the matter?" Sailor V asked of him, bending back to look from where she'd been peeking out the window.

The youth on the bed was concerned. "Something's up, I'm all out of spell energy. Hang on a minute." He sat up and concentrated. Suddenly there rained down around him a collection of trinkets; armbands, jewelry, bracers, belt and so on.

"Didn't you just say you couldn't cast magic?" Mercury inquired.

"Sure, but this was something permanent I put into these when I created them." The young mage replied, in his distraction revealing some things he really didn't want other people to know. "I put a mark on each of these that I can locate them, even get a clear idea of who has them if they're stolen. But more importantly, I can call them all to me unless they're in someone else's possession or in a specially warded place. Very handy, I never lose things. But right now I needed some of these to figure out what was up."

Sliding the ruby armband on again, he sighed in relief, then clasped on a necklace. "Ah, that's better."

"Are you going to say, now that you know what the problem is?" Artemis asked, sitting at the foot of the bed.

The redhead nodded, laying a short wand against the inside of his left forearm and wrapping a bracer on over it, concealing and hiding it. "Yah. That dunce cap thing might have done more than just kill me."

"I'm afraid that I don't understand." Mercury supplied, slightly confused.

Jared scooted to a more comfortable position and began to explain, while still strapping on his possessions. "Well, I'll try and... hang on a minute..." He took out a hand mirror and checked his reflection for a moment. Mercury noted that his mirror was about six inches across and set in what looked like a silver frame. A pheonix had been inset in the back through a mosaic of blue gemstones and it was really quite pretty.

The youth put down the mirror. "Okay, short form. And this is conjecture, but I'm a..." He trailed off, dropping his head. ~What was I about to say? That I was an expert? Sure, my *character* is, but I'm beginning to lose all sense of having been a separate person at all!~

The redhead shook himself. "Sorry. You guys cast magic about the same way as I walk; you apply the desire and your body follows through on it. All of the magic of being a Sailor Scout was either worked into you long ago, or contained in the items you use to transform and keyed to certain specific people; namely you. The magic that makes you Sailor Scouts is a vast network of effects, and when you trigger an attack or ability you are just focusing power through a part of that permanent web."

He looked at his companions, inwardly wincing. "I'm something of an expert on magical theory. Anyway, I come from a much more primitive setup. We're about a step up from waving bird feathers in the air and calling down rain, not a high step up either." Jared shook his head and let his feet down off of the bed, adjusting his belt around his person and beginning to strap pouches to it. "But primitive though that may be, we are advanced and vigorous primitives. Rather than build vast networks of self sustaining magic, we cast spells that are largely simple one-shots, temporary things at best by comparison. But self terminating spells tend to improve faster merely by means of trial and error than powerful, long term, permanent ones, which are too expensive in terms of resource and energy to be done that way."

The redhead slid down from off of the bed and delicately began to stretch out. "One other thing spurring us on is that for most of our lives our survival is at stake. Our world is overrun with monsters, trolls, demons, etc., and while not quite as powerful as Beryl or her minions, those of us who fail to improve are toast. That motivation goes a long way. We've had mages try just about every trick you could think of, and enough of them succeeded that as a whole we've learned how to do quite a bit."

What he was telling them was really just standard for a D&D adventuring world, where civilization had a small toehold and the rest of the world teemed with lost riches and nasty critters. The average lifespan of a neophyte adventurer was astonishingly short.

For some reason Jared began brushing out his hair, checking his mirror again. "Not that all of that knowledge is available, mind you. Spells can be hard to come by and research is expensive. Most of us rely primarily on the purchase or find of spells that were developed by others."

"Why didn't you share? Weren't your lives in danger?" Mercury cocked her head at the youth. "It seems it would make sense to cooperate."

The redhead replied with a grin. "Oh, I agree. But how much more advanced would your science be if all companies shared their secrets and cooperated? Sadly, there are many who think only of profit, and even more sadly, those who would use that knowledge for evil. So spells don't get widely circulated, not unless a mage sells them or dies and his spellbook gets discovered by another. More frequently we trade, for example I could train you how I do something like, oh, I dunno... Analyze Device to intuitively understand the purposes and function of a mechanical object, if you would, in turn, teach me something of equal power."

Jared sighed, stamping his feet to get the boots settled properly, then glanced around. "But, of course, the slow and steady building of your style gets to a point where it builds a higher structure, just because fast and dirty is less stable. So while I can do more *types* of things than you do, I cannot do *what* you do and do it as well. Or that's my theory, I'm waiting to be proved wrong."

"So do you have a spellbook?" Artemis stepped forward and queried.

Reluctantly, Jared nodded.

"Wow!" Amy chirped up. "I would like to see it."

Jared glanced between his companions. Amy had obviously beaten Artemis to the same request by a bare second, and Mina was looking interested too. The youth studied floor tiles. "Amy... that kind of request... If I didn't trust you it would be considered an insult, and as it stands it's tantamount to asking me to marry you. It would be hard for bearing kids together to feel more intimate than studying another mage's spellbook. You could easily kill me with that in-depth knowledge of my secrets, even without intending to. If an incautious word got to the wrong ear at the wrong time about what I can and cannot do it could easily spell the end of me."

Mercury turned pale. "Oh."

Artemis took a step forward. "Nevertheless, I feel that we..."

Jared shot him a hard look. "You even *try* suggesting what I think you're about to and you're kitty litter. If my actions haven't proven whose side I'm on then that book isn't going to convince you, and I don't trust that Beryl wouldn't wring you dry if she got the idea in her head that by doing so she could gain a secret that might get me."

Venus cleared her throat. "Jared, it's not right for to be holding secrets from each other." She said, speaking into her hand.

He looked at her helplessly. Could she have any idea what she was asking?

...if something didn't interrupt conveniently he was going to die. Right then, right there.

...nothing did.

Something chaotic stirred from within him. Jared stood up, slipping on the last of his impressive collection of gear, and nodded to all assembled. "Goodbye." He raised a hand, tapping energy stored in his bracer to cast a spell.

"World Gate."

A swirling, man-sized disk of bluish energy rose up into being over the hospital floor, standing upright like an entrance way. Jared also shimmered and fell amidst a cascade of equipment, all of his items falling loose as he hit the floor as a small, white bunny rabbit, looking quite astonished.

The rabbit swiftly reverted to being Jared, who grabbed a sheet to cover himself and cast another spell, bringing all of his equipment up from the floor to garb him again. Unfortunately, this also caused a small, black cloud to form around the mage's head. Inside it, Jared could be heard to cough.

Mercury caught a whiff of it, it smelled something like sulfur and garlic, and something worse.

Jared remained, stunned, until the world gate had closed and the small, black cloud had dissipated. He blinked in astonishment, then held out his hand and called forth a soft globe of blue light.

Standing ten feet away and on the other side of the room, Mercury's clothes disintegrated, leaving her naked but for jewelry. The others only looked when they heard Mercury's shriek. The mage pointed a finger and said "Fabricate", and the girl was decently clad in her uniform again, but both Mage and Mercury began blinking furiously.

"Oh my! This was not what I was expecting at all!"

"Nope, it would appear that you screwed up."

Mina and Artemis looked rapidly between the two. That had been Jared's voice from Jared's body, but had also been falsetto and sounded a bit like Mercury. While the response from Mercury had Jared's intonation and been a little mannish.

"No, we've not switched minds or bodies." Mercury answered, still sounding alot like Jared. "Just personalities, and then just temporarily... I hope. Look, we'd better get out of here before the noise brings one of the nurses or my mom."

The Pheonix Mage blinked in rapidfire staccato. "Oh. I guess that would be best. We ought to go, shouldn't we? It would hardly do to get caught in a situation like this, in our hero guises. I don't think we could easily explain it."

Mina's head hurt from turning back and forth between the two of them.

The doorknob could be heard to be turning.

Mercury, with a personality for action, ran at super fast speed, tackling Jared and bursting with him out through the floor length window. Venus remained to see the stunned nurse come in on her and see the broken out glass window and empty bed.

The confused but plucky Sailor tossed her a weak victory sign. "Oh, I was just here helping to heal the sick, but the Negaverse just attacked. Gotta fight it! See ya!" And she leapt from the window too.

Mercury and the Pheonix Mage were both falling rather fast toward the ground. Jared's face screwed up, helplessly awaiting impact. Mercury suddenly realized that she didn't have any means of slowing their fall. But then the Mage twisted around in the air and landed with her in his arms, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet.

Jared quickly set Mercury down, and looked demurely embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I had forgotten all about that. I have an item that reduces injury from falls. Lucky for us it was automatic."

Mercury snorted. "No..."

Both blinked.

Jared shook his head , closing his eyes and putting his palms over them. "I am so glad that was temporary."

"You're telling me!" Mercury agreed.

They looked up to hear the scream of Venus falling. Seeing little other option, the mage pointed to her and said "Feather Fall", suddenly arresting Venus' plight as she began to bob and drift downwards with the speed of a floating feather.

The mage appeared honestly surprised when nothing bad happened.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking so relieved?" Mercury asked, concerned.

The mage sighed deeply. "I was worried something weird was going to happen like one of you falling in love with me, or..."

He saw a pulse of magic out of the corner of his eye, and looked at it just in time to see little sparkles of magic fading from around the intellectual Sailor.

"Um..."

Mercury clasped her hands at him adoringly. "Oh, it was so *brave* of you! To save me and Sailor V like that! And earlier when you rescued me from that youma! It must have taken alot out of you. We should go to my house where you can rest!"

The mage began backing off.

Glomp!

"Hey!" Sailor V shouted, having landed. She came running towards them. "He's mine! I saw him first!"

Jared closed his eyes and prayed for the Negaverse to attack.

On second thought, there was a hospital full of people who were just looking out of their windows. Best to find someplace to have their little, domestic squabble without news crews arriving any second.

He tried casting a teleport. The only reaction he received was a 400 lb block of dirt from the place he'd been *intending* to go dropped at his feet and Mercury's hair growing an additional three feet in length.

"Do you like girls who grow their hair long, Jay-chan?" Mercury asked of him sweetly.

"Yes, I find long hair quite attractive." He tried, figuring that complimented both of them and could he *please* untangle himself so that he could run away? His *feet* still worked, he was pretty sure.

"Well, if it isn't the little Sailor Brat and her boyfriend."

Never was Jared so grateful to have a dark general appear than at that moment.

That was when it occured to him that he was in no condition to fight. 


	7. Chapter 7

Skysaber's Choice  
Part Seven

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

Nephlite was on a rise, surrounded by four of his largest Sailor Hunter youma. The youma were something the Pheonix Mage could handle, the general was another kettle of fish entirely.

Jared began to withdraw his gratefulness that this attack had occurred.

"So, Sailor V, who are your friends?" Nephlite taunted, coming slightly forward.

Jared got a weird inspiration. His bandaged chest was hidden under his newly self-repaired armor, so the Negaverse general hadn't any cause to believe that he was in as bad a condition as he was, ie, critically injured and with his spells badly distorted.

Hard to believe one youma had hurt him so badly, but it was so.

The pearl clad mage stepped forward, preparing to speak.

Jared's plan got interrupted by Nephlite striking fast, throwing his hands forward and blasting out a burst of dark energy. Jared instinctively replied with a spell suited to the attack and reflected the black bolts right back at Nephlite.

Nephlite dodged them adroitly.

~Okay, deceiving this guy is out of the question. He's too quick on the uptake.~ Something firmed within the mage, as he swiftly analyzed and discarded various plans that would involve running chases, evasions and diversions that had too high a cost or offered too small a chance to succeed.

~There is only one option: Blaze of Glory. I can't deal with *both* general and those youma and survive. The Sailor Scouts are to be preserved at any cost. My own life is an acceptable price for that, and I'm confident of destroying the general. That ought to make the Sailors' time tolerable for at least a while.~

Jared drew himself up, biting down on a special tooth he'd gone to great trouble and expense to enchant, using up the reserve power there and feeling his body thrum with renewed vigor as his battle injuries departed. He would have liked to have lived longer, but wasn't going to stop and gawk now. He didn't have the time.

"GO!" The mage screamed to the two Sailors, jumping away from their sides and into the air. Nephlite looked decidedly pale and the two Scouts were stunned, for what reason the youth couldn't immediately divine.

The Pheonix Mage sprouted a dozen fans and set them whirling like a living blender. One of the youma charged and was carved into pieces instantly. Nephlite was scrambling back, the mage noted, and so used the opportunity to blend the next of the youma into disgusting fragments.

~If Nephlite is actually stupid enough to let me kill all of his bodyguards...~

The Negaverse general reacted as if stung, getting Jared suspicious, but the mage remained too busy dealing with an energy attack to spend the time. Getting drained at a time like this would provide insufficient escape time to his charges. He was to survive long enough for them to get to safety, and ideally kill this guy so they wouldn't have to deal with him later.

~It's a pity, though. Nephlite was the only of Beryl's generals fated to learn how to throw off the mind control the Negaverse Witch had put them all under. Not that it did much good, Zoicite killing him even as Nephlite learned it, but better to die a good guy than a bad one. And there was that girl the general fell in love with, of course...~

The brief picture of Molly holding a wounded Nephlite in her arms, as the two of them discussed love and joy even as the reclaimed general died from injuries briefly flitted across the boy's mind.

Jared flung a dozen fans, glittering with blades, at the general and wondered why the guy was looking so out of sorts? He could have killed him already if he'd been coordinating his assault with the youma. As Jared ducked under the swinging limb of one of the huge monsters, kicking back to slam the creature in the face, he began to think that he might actually inflict enough harm here to provide the Sailors enough time to flee and then get away himself.

Then he saw the pair of them, standing numbly where he'd left them, and the mage knew that his life had just ended. They'd failed to flee. All of this delay was for nothing. He should have expected it, but he was used to a higher brand of fighting companion.

There he stopped himself. They were kids! They were kids doing an incredible job and *they* couldn't help it if he had a few hundred more years fighting experience and saw holes in their style! Give them time and a decent instructor and they'd be fit companions for any situation, good or bad. Of course, *Artemis* wasn't likely to be the best instructor, being too interested with his own agenda, but even so give the girls time and there'd be no way in a hot and unpleasant place that anyone could drag an unkind word from his lips about them. He'd not been half so fine a warrior at their age.

~And give them a few years and they'd be devastatingly sexy, too.~

The mage actually closed his eyes a moment and shied away from the thought about how he felt about them, as he finished off one of the remaining two youma. He didn't *normally* get this introspective during a fight. Something was wrong. This was like thinking in a half-doze, though thankfully he didn't see any slowing of his physical reactions. They just felt detached.

One left to go before it was him versus the oddly recalcitrant general. If Nephlite weren't so disconcerted from something this would have been over by now. He never could've dealt with both general and youma together. But it'd almost been him against the youma alone, and they weren't much without support.

Nephlite fired another dark bolt, but was staggering back and wild-eyed still. Jared finished the last of the youma, its bloody pieces falling in shards around him and converting to black dust.

~Nephlite vs Me without my magic = I'm hosed. Nephlite vs Undefended Sailors = They're hosed. Result: Exact what price in blood I can and figure the weakened bad guy will have to back down before facing my friends.~

Then a new noise entered the fray and the Pheonix Mage shuddered.

Across a battlefield drenched in youma blood Zoicite's voice cut a harsh swath. "So, Nephlite, having a little trouble with this new threat? I wouldn't have thought that little Sailor brat had it in her to find anyone significant." The female general played with her hair between the tips of her fingers and laughed. "Jedite certainly didn't seem to have any trouble with her. Do you think she's able to attract a man powerful enough to turn the whole tide against us? I think not."

~Actually, Sailor Venus is decidedly *too* good looking for my peace of mind. I would have an easy choice if all the Scouts weren't equally attractive in their own way. But they all have strengths the others lack and deciding between... They combine into such an excellent team, unique qualities fitting together so nicely, that any one of them taken separately doesn't seem half so attractive as that same one does with the group to bolster her weaknesses. But the fact that I am falling in love with each and every one of them and would gladly marry them all, given the chance and if it were legal, is just my dirty little secret that I'll take with me to my grave.~

Zoicite reacted as if slapped, and it finally penetrated his molasses-like mental state what was going on.

~My thoughts are being broadcast.~

~Oh dear, what I said.~

Before any other thought could force its way through he was already casting a counterspell, stopping the leakage of information from his head. Some of the things revealed were highly tactical and important, the rest just embarrassing and potentially disastrous. But it was past time to stop the flow.

Zoicite turned to Nephlite, who was rapidly pulling himself together from the barrage of Jared's thought broadcast. Any second now and they'd turn on the mage.

His thoughts were again his own, he could feel the clarity of mind returning to him, but he was able to enjoy the new and entirely unlucky turn of events from this next disastrously altered spell effect. The counterspell had paralyzed him and he was now frozen in place, unable to move a muscle to even speak.

"Meteor Beam Shower!"

Zoicite dodged Venus' attack by shimmering and fading out of existence before it, then reappearing besides Nephlite. The fact that all others had been listening to his quasi-drunken internal dialog explained why they'd been so distracted before now.

~So what have we got?~ Jared swiftly analyzed some possibilities, and the wand concealed on his left forearm began to twinkle under the bracer he wore there. Zoicite and Nephlite were in a discussion that might lead to the pair of them joining forces for one fight. That would be bad beyond bad.

Artemis ran out from the doors of the hospital, having finally navigated the stairs.

Suddenly, rough crystals blazing quietly with black flame began to materialize and drift down in clouds to settle on objects. Laughing cut across the field, and Venus and Mercury both began to crowd in close to Jared's sides.

The first crystal touched ground, and sprouted a hairy, ugly thing that looked like a successful cross between a manticore and a werewolf: ugly bat wings, hairy furred body with twisted human face leering with fangs, and twin scorpion tails looming up over both of the creature's shoulders.

Dozens of crystals landed and sprouted more of the exact same, ugly creations, each one easily radiating five times the power level of a Sailor Hunter youma, making them individually fifteen times as powerful as Sailor V, and there were scores of them springing up from everywhere.

Nephlite and Zoicite turned back to back as a ring of these creations sprang up from the ground around them. The two generals could sense the teleport block going up in place around them. Zoicite had lost her carefree demeanor, whispering aside to Nephlite. "This is more youma power than we fielded to destroy the Moon."

Venus and Mercury were hugging close to Jared's sides, seeking sanctuary despite the fact that he could not move an inch.

The laughter resolved into a female voice speaking, sourceless over the battle field. "I feel it... The wave of the people of a white moon..."

The Pheonix Mage emerged from his momentary paralysis, changing his stance he cried out. "Who are you?"

If the female voice could answer it did not reply, going on it said. "I will kill all who are affiliated with the Silver Millennium. It's allies, their enemies... You can't get away!"

"I feel enormous negative energy!" Venus warned, giving up all pretense and securely fastening herself to Jared's side.

Mercury glomped herself to the other one.

"I'm scared." Mercury cried.

"And now!" The female voice continued. "Get them, my servant!"

A black flame curled up from mid-sky and resolved into a figure well-known to all present, though a figure that was altered from its original guise and now wore black, spiny armor and whose face was half composed of steel.

"Jedite!" Both remaining dark generals called in simultaneous recognition.

"It's been sweet. my friends." The altered dark general called, standing in mid air like it was the most natural thing, the eye in the steel half of his face a glinting stone of amber. Jedite waved a hand. "But all good things must end. Beryl doesn't know what true power is, I've been transformed. Now... Kill them slowly, my nega-beasts!"

One of the hulking monstrosities around the Mage and Sailor Scouts leaped forward. Both Scouts shrieked, hiding their faces in Jared's chest.

"Dead Scream."

A hurtling bolt of power ripped along the ground and punched right through the dark creation that was menacing the trio of good guys. Going on, the bolt of power shattered and eliminated nearly a dozen more before expending itself.

Jared turned himself toward the source of the blast.

"It's you..."

On the steps of the hospital Artemis whispered. "... Sailor Pluto."

A woman with deep green hair stood atop a nearby building. She was wearing the familiar Sailor uniform, a garnet-tipped staff held by her side. The Pheonix cocked his head to her, asking. "Why are you here?"

The woman answered. "In between time and space I saw enormous twists I've never seen before." Her head turned as she saw the nega-beasts start to move. "But it appears that I don't have time to explain."

"Get them... Now!" Jedite shrieked from where he floated.

Another voice cut across the battlefield. "We are going back to war again."

"That is our destiny." Another woman's voice joined it.

"Now! Sailor Scouts! Transform!" Pluto shouted, waving her staff dramatically.

A field of invisibility from a previously unoccupied space of ground flickered as a young woman's voice cried out. "Uranus Planet Power!"

The invisibility field warped and died, overcome into shattering fragments by the immense amount of magical energy it was trying to hide, an energy so intense as to be almost blinding to those able to look at it. A silhouette of a young lady, featureless and filled with glowing, sparks of rainbow energy, waved her brightly radiant transformation pen in a circle all around her, a corresponding arc written in yellow flames on the dirt below as it moved. The young lady's image hung still, then the circle drawn over the ground erupted in a volcano of energy, shock waves like flame passing over her body, transforming her into a Sailor Suited warrior.

Almost casually, the blonde young woman tossed her hair about, relishing in the sensations of the change.

A second invisibility field warped and lost its existence, strained under a cry of: "Neptune Planet Power!" The sequence was repeated, with a slightly different glowing form and a pillar of water and cascading tide instead of the first's volcano.

The aqua-haired young lady tossed her hair as well, confident and attractive, now revealed in a full Sailor costume.

A surge of dark power erupted as the changed Jedite thrust a fist skyward. "Get them! Kill them all!" And scores more of the flaming black crystals appeared and floated down, creating nearly sixty more of the hairy warriors and doubling their numbers to well over a hundred.

In the background, Zoicite and Nephlite cringed where they were surrounded.

The lack of concern showed by the pair of newly arrived Sailors was almost frightening to see. Their confidence in the face of the horrible threat was awesome to behold.

The blonde warrior spun in place dramatically. "Emboldened by the power of unsullied bravery, the Magnificent Fighter Sailor Uranus, acting gorgeous."

The aqua-haired young girl also spun and posed without the least concern for the threats opposing them. "Empowered by feelings of greatest kindness, the Elegant Fighter Sailor Neptune, acting graceful." An amused noise came from her throat.

A wave of the hairy beasts charged them, and the self-assurance that both of the new Sailors had while facing that was simply wondrous to look upon.

Uranus raised a fist to the air. "World Shaking!" And the ground about her feet erupted in shock waves that accumulated rapidly into a globe around her fist, which she used to strike the earth beneath her, sending a rippling earthquake like an arrow toward the charging monsters, the globe of yellow energy leading it and picking up speed as it rushed toward them.

Neptune brought both hands high above her head. "Deep Submerge!" And a churning maelstrom of water rose into existence around her, blocking out sight of the Sailor for a brief moment. When this receded, the Sailor was revealed holding a globe of blue power, which she released toward her foes.

"Dead Scream." Pluto added in a whisper, gathering a red ball of power toward the end of her staff and twirling, bringing it to bear on her foes amidst a rush of grey winds all about her.

The three glowing orbs of power ripped forward and caught the charging wave of man beasts, converting the front ranks to steam without slowing down. The balls curled and twisted, knocking about nega-monsters that had not been involved in the charge, until, after the blasts and explosions had faded away, there was not a single of the hairy monsters remaining.

Burning black hairs and bits of scorpion tail burned up as the last of the energy that had powered them vanished.

The transformed Jedite scowled and grit his teeth in frustration.

Uranus and Neptune leapt up and joined Pluto, putting their backs together and taunting in triplicate. "We know who you are..."

"But if you think you can bring something evil into this world..."

"Well," Neptune concluded, smirking. "Then you had best reconsider, as we just can't allow that."

Jedite's face twisted in impotent rage, and with a swirl of black fire, he vanished.

The trio of new Sailors leapt down, joining the two Sailors plus mage already on the ground, forming up on the girls now unclinging themselves from Jared's sides in wonder over what was happening around them.

"Well?" Was all that Uranus asked, flexing the knuckles of one fist while she looked disparagingly at the two remaining generals.

"We've got seconds if you're not satisfied with your first order." Neptune added, looking straight at the bad guys.

Both Nephlite and Zoicite vanished in record time.

"See you later, Sailors." Uranus called, in the act of leaping away beside Pluto and Neptune.

"Wait!" Mercury called, but it was too late, the trio of outer Scouts had vanished.

"Hey!" Artemis came running up. "You've got to go look for them! You've *got* to find them! If Sailor Pluto is involved in this who knows what might happen!"

"Right!" Venus gave a firm nod, ready to leap away, but she paused to look at Jared and that stopped her. He had returned to paralyzed state, unmoving from that first position he'd been in.

"Jay-chan, whatever could be the matter?" Mercury queried.

With a long, drawn out sigh, the young man collapsed down to his knees. Both girls were instantly beside him, concerned for him and trying to help him up. He stood, but a little wobbly.

The mage shook out his hair, under his left bracer, the wand had ceased its unnoticed glowing. Drawing breath, the mage started to speak. "They'll be no need to go looking after them, Artemis. None of what you just saw actually happened."

"WHAT?" A round of confusion.

He opened his mouth to explain, then his eyes suddenly flew wide. Floating a good two yards off the ground, the mage's head was thrown back and his arms splayed wide, legs close together as he looked for all the world like a merman leapt from the sea to glory in a moment of sunshine cascading across his body. A golden beam of light shot directly down from above and dwelt on his chest, illuminating his entire body in a brief halo of energy.

When it was over the young man's body floated a moment longer, spinning slow and graceful as it lowered to rest itself on the ground, brief energy particles running across his extremities and form while it did so.

It concluded without sign that it had ever happened, and the mage sat up with a strange expression.

"Wow. *THAT* solves more questions than I'd ever asked." He shook himself, standing up, and brushing out his sleeves.

"What was THAT!" Artemis demanded.

Venus just carefully took the mage's sleeve, and when she'd caught his attention looked into his eyes. After a moment, she glowed, finding what she'd been searching for. She smiled and tossed her head. "Say, care to tell us what that was?"

Mercury took one of his hands.

The mage nodded. "I'll be happy too, but let's do it while we walk."

"Where should we change?" Mercury asked.

A good question. He looked around, nothing presented itself.

"You could all go into one of those buildings." Artemis presented. "You could change in the bathrooms and go out the other side.

But Venus shook her head. "No, Artemis. I'll change here if I have to. I'm *not* going to be separated from Jared for even that long!"

Mercury made an agreeing sound.

"Okay," the mage resolved. "Let's do this. Mercury can use her attack to fog the area, and we all change and leave."

"I have an attack?"

Mercury seemed surprised.

The mage nodded. "Yes, and from what I understand it resembles Battleshroud gas, used on my own world. You apply it to an area, blinding all within to any form of visual sight. It also slows those caught within it so their reaction time is destroyed and they don't do much. The cloud will also cling to any who are caught within it, so it isn't easy to leave. What's more, since you are Silver Millennium powered, it's a fair bet that yours will be friend or foe exclusive, meaning that your allies will be able to see inside it just fine, won't be slowed by it, and can generally enjoy all of the benefits without any of the drawbacks. Also, if you aim your attack directly at a person, that creature suffers some minor, actually I don't know about minor as it's as good as my fireballs, anyway, that person suffers cold damage. Used as a direct attack you can trigger the fog, or not, as you wish."

Artemis was standing with his jaw hanging open.

Mercury frowned at the cat. "That would have been nice to know about beforehand."

"But... but..." Artemis could only gasp.

Venus eyed the camera crew who'd been there for a while, too far distant to hear any of their whispers even with microphones. "So lets get out of here, okay?"

"Right." Mercury nodded firmly, charging up to her attack sequence.

"Mercury Bubbles, Blast!"

"Artemis? Turn your back, will ya?" Venus asked.

"Turn my back? On what? Where are you guys?"

All three youths looked down on the kitty cat, who was standing practically at their ankles and staring about wildly in what looked to them like merely a minor fog.

Both others looked to Mercury, who smiled gaily. "Looks like it worked, didn't it?" She laughed.

The others joined her and they all dropped their transformations. Jared noticed and noted that, while both of them were naked briefly during the change, neither one had asked he turn around or seemed at all displeased that he was there and witnessed this. Though if he'd thought about it beforehand they would have had privacy.

Catching their eyes, they were glad it'd worked out *this* way.

~Oh, deary me, am I in trouble.~

"Where are we going?" Amy asked, taking Jared's right arm.

Mina paused and thought about it before scooping up her cat, who acted startled at the unexpected, unseen contact. "Pipe down, Artemis. Are you coming or not?" The cat settled nervously in the hold that he could not see, and Mina took Jared's other arm.

"So you want to tell us what happened?" Mina asked as they all trotted off.

Jared bobbed a nod. "Sure. Last to first. That last thing, with me floating around. To explain that I have to go back a step and explain that I once played a style of game where you created wizards and warriors to battle evil using spells and fantastic artifacts. Then came a weird twist of circumstance where the actual me landed in a shop that specializes in curses. I couldn't leave without buying something, so I outsmarted the shopkeeper into blending me with the best character I'd had from the game, one who was both a wizard and a warrior and no slouch at either. Now I remember being both the human who played that game, and the elf who was one of that human's favorite people to play. I got blended into one being by magic capable of rewriting the history of worlds."

They emerged from the fog about a block away from their starting point. To their continued amusement, a small cloud of the vapor clung to Artemis and the cat still could not see. They shared a laugh at that.

Artemis was trying to be good-natured about it. After all, he was learning things about this mage that might be very important!

Jared went on. "Okay, we did have little alterations to the official system, though. The best definitions for a character start with their profession - called class, and their experience in that class - measured in levels. By official rules, once you had beaten up enough monsters, accumulated sufficient treasure, or whatever, then you retired from adventuring for months or weeks to get training and rise up a level in your class. We did not play this way. By *our* rules, once you had adventured sufficiently to qualify for your new level, you had a 'religious experience' and gained your new class powers right there, with no wait time."

He chuckled. "I just didn't expect it to be so flashy. I am now a twentieth level druid, with corresponding increase in my other abilities and powers as well. What troubles me is that my martial art and fighting expertise also improved, as well as my mage and druid ones. That confuses me because, One: I'd retired as a monk and kensai, so my abilities should not, any longer, improve as they did. And, Two: as a monk I'd already reached the pinnacle of my abilities. It was not possible by those rules to get any better than I was, but I just did. Perhaps the warping of magic around here had something to do with it."

Amy laughed brightly. "I'm sorry, it just seems too funny to get concerned over something that really seems quite a benefit."

Mina shot her a glance and then laughed herself. Her hunk had improved, and this was a problem? Might all her problems be that way!

"And what about the other three Sailor Scouts? Why aren't we out looking for them?" Artemis asked testily, as the vapor around him finally dissipated.

Jared tossed the cat a sober wink. "Simple, kitty. None of that ever happened. Those other Scouts weren't ever actually there. It was all an illusion that I cast."

"But that's impossible! We saw them. They defeated that monster who was directing all those ugly beasts! How could they *not* have been there?"

Artemis and Mina were supportive of Amy's question, and Jared replied with a wink. "The very simplest illusion will fool anyone if they don't know what to look for. I will explain. First off, who expects a mage to cast an illusion that benefits his enemy? Answer: no one. So no one was prepared to believe that *I* would create an illusion of extra dark forces showing up! They all just accepted it as fact, even when those forces turned out to be an extra dark army that wasn't friends with anybody, and was, in fact, against us all. Still, they wouldn't suspect me of calling into being something that'd hurt me in an already tough bind."

He chuckled. "So when extra forces of light arrived and blew away all of the new bad guys it had to be real, didn't it? I mean, only a very powerful illusion could affect in the slightest anything that was truly real. And they blew away a whole army of incredibly tough bad guys, how could they be anything *but* the real thing? There was also that magic being thrown about. Any mage knows that magic auras and the feeling of spells is not something an illusion frequently covers. Except for me. I see magical energy as easily as you see light. So I've learned how to counterfeit the aura to make my illusions look and feel more real. I even bumped the power levels of everything I created with that to astronomical heights."

The youth smiled. "What really happened was that I created an illusion of extra dark forces, showed the real bad ones things they were in a mindset to believe, like the new bad guys wanting to wax us, and then had another illusion show up and beat my first illusion, and then bluff the *real* bad guys into retreating! Now the overall effect of this is as follows: Our enemy believes that Jedite has gained extra powers and is in league with forces beyond their own. They will be cautious, as they believe now there are extra bad guys who want the same Earth as them, and in fact have declared their eagerness to kill them as well. Beryl will spend energy and time looking for something that does not exist, and not finding it she'll only worry because that *has* to mean it is just hiding really well and could strike at any moment."

The redhead enjoyed a laugh. "Then, to continue, *we've* apparently got allies that took down forces beyond anything the Negaverse has, and did it with ease! How is that going to affect the bad guys' plans? Answer: They'll be more cautious, do things less openly and with greater care. All of this means that they'll be doing fewer. After all, if a single youma can drop in with impunity and raid, then return with energy, they can do a hundred times what they could if they're required to send in a strike force with well-coordinated backup and plans for retreat, concealment and infiltration. It means they'll have less energy to spend as well, because they have to be on guard against an attack that would never happen, but they believe they've got to be prepared against anyway."

He laughed again. "And above all, *I've* been simple and direct, with charges and frontal assaults my trademark every time they've known they were encountering me. It is entirely against anything they've observed about me for me to do anything that sneaky!"

Both the girls laughed in admiration. In Mina's arms, Artemis had eyes the size of saucer plates.

They arrived at the cherry hill temple and started up. Jared began speaking more freely once they got among the trees, raising his tone to normal conversational levels. "One of the fun parts about all of this is that time has been most critical for us. We need some to prepare in, and now we'll hopefully have it."

They came to a stop before a person sweeping the steps.

"I'm sorry, the shrine isn't open right now. Please come back at another time."

Jared released his hold on the two girls beside him. "Rae?"

The shrine maiden blinked. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

He gave a BIG sigh and nodded gratefully. "Yes, but before we go into all that we should probably retire inside first. How did you get up so soon, anyway? I thought it was going to another few days before you woke up at all."

The dark-haired shrine maiden blinked at him. "What do you know about that?"

Jared suddenly realized that she was still thinking in terms of Jedite and hadn't heard the explanation as yet. He bowed shallowly. "Rae Hino. It was I who ventured into the fortress of Jedite, the true name of your assistant Jed, and rescued you and all the other teenager's he'd captured. I have been caring for you since that time. Your ravens, Phobos and Deimos, can vouch for me."

Rae stared at him, shocked.

"Are you sure you should be telling her all that?" Amy ventured from his side.

Mina shook out her long hair, brightening considerably. "No, it's alright. This is Rae Hino. She's one of the ones on *our* side! How do you do?" Mina bowed politely. "I'm Sailor V."

Rae dropped her broom.

"And I'm Amy Anderson, only just today I became Sailor Mercury." Amy also bowed.

Rae, flustered and off balance, didn't know what to say. THESE were... ? And Sailor V had a new ally? Who was the guy?

Jared nodded his head to her. "Rae, I am the Pheonix Mage, who's been on the news alot even if you've been asleep for it. We are telling you these things because you have the power to become Sailor Mars." He flashed a smile. "And be able to get the better of people like Jedite if or when you encounter them again."

THAT got Rae's agreement, even if she wasn't ready for it. She seized upon the closest thing for mental support, which was the temple's filthy yard. "Uh... That is... I'd invite you all in, but it'll be a while before I can join you, though. It'll take me forever to get this in order, and I promised myself I'd get a start on it as quick as I could as soon as I saw it this morning."

"Not a problem." Jared replied. He crossed his arms before his chest, closing both his eyes.

"For the service of a lord  
summon now a Servant Horde  
doing work without reward  
in harmony, without discord."

He frowned when nothing happened, then chuckled. "I ought to be so lucky all the time. Sorry, that was *meant* to clean up your yard with about five hundred or so Unseen Servants, but my spells have all been distorted since the battle before last. Can we all go in and talk about it? You can get to the yard a little later. I'll even help, with muscles this time as my spells are a little unpredictable. I'm fortunate that one only failed."

In numb astonishment, Rae nodded. For an instant, she got an impression of him talking with hundreds of people, and it had knocked her spiritual senses haywire.

They walked inside and Michelle waved to them, shutting off the television and hopping over to them with tons of energy. "Hi! Glad to see you back." She blushed demurely, then, noting the girls all around him, frowned a little.

The redhead didn't notice, checking out his former patients. "How did you get so well so quickly? Michelle, yesterday you collapsed from walking. What's up?"

The aqua-haired beauty shook out her long hair happily, now smiling. "I don't know, but I *feel* all rested."

"You mean it wasn't some medicine or other that you gave us?" Rae asked.

Jared slapped his own forehead. "I have been a fool." He held out a potion bottle. "A Potion of Vitality. Each of these is worth one week of food, water, and rest. But I forgot that they can be used to compensate for a lack of those as well as prepare you to go without. I mostly use them for long marches, and I slipped each of you one when I was leaving, so you'd not be in bad shape if I couldn't come back and keep watching over you as I'd been doing. But it rather missed my mind that you were suffering from long exposure to a kind of energy drain that made you *need* extra food and rest. So the potion did its work, negating your extra need, and you woke up. I've been stupid in not giving you them long ago."

"Hey!" Mina shouted perkily. "Does that mean now that you can cure the energy drain they cause us?"

Jared nodded a little dubiously. "For as long as my supply of those potions lasts, sure." He passed out one to each girl.

Then the air seemed to split, though quietly, causing Mina, Amy, the two other contacted girls, and the redhaired boy to nearly jump out of their assorted footwear. The cat merely settled for turning into a puffball of startled fur.

The figure that stepped out of the split was...

"A BOOMER?" Three girls said simultaneously, having seen Bubblegum Crisis many years ago. Michelle began to wonder what the others knew and she didn't, and how dangerous that robot might be...

"Oh, there you are. Jared the Phoenix, right?" The Boomer slung a large sack onto the ground.

Jared blinked. Supernatural, yes. But an odd combination of technology around a central body that had supernatural origins, though certainly not evil. "And you are?"

"Grey. Guardian Daemon Trainee, Fourth Class, Asgard. Currently getting ready for a Twelve Labors makeup test. Hang on," the armored figure started rooting around in the pack. "Look, I caught what you did at the Spells R Us shoppe, and I couldn't do anything about it directly but it looks like my screwing around with the door program landed you here. Instead of in the Abyss, where you most didn't want to be, you ended up here, where you're most needed. Still, it's my fault, so I've asked around and made some arrangements."

There was a loud "tink"ing noise as Mina rapped on metallic plates. "It's real?"

"Full conversion cyborg," answered the daemon as it pulled what looked like a music CD (except for the thickness and lack of a central hole) out of the pack. "Here it is. Standard issue spellbook from Shadarian Imperial Mage Corps, plane of Aramar. Got your basics like Invisibility and Grease, but it's also got MIRV on it, I think."

"MIRV?" Jared was sure he hadn't heard of that one before, though it did sound familiar. It was missile terminology for a rocket with many warheads.

"Multiple Incendiary Rotating Velocity points. Something like 'Meteor Swarm' crossed with Lina Inverse's 'Dragon Slave', useful in removing unwanted mountains and the like. For smaller targets like your average youma I'd suggest 'Holy Burst' or one of the White Magic enchantments. Anything that feeds on negative energy is likely to find those hard to digest." The cyborg handed the disc over. "You can see magic, so you ought to be able to access those without much problem."

Rae caught a shiny glint from the pack and reached in, pulling a softly glowing metallic bow out of the sack, and promptly hid it while everyone's attention was on the disc. Michelle caught her doing it and was opening her mouth to raise a fuss when the shrine maiden blushed and snatched out a second item, giving the maid a glowing ring. Michelle looked at the item in her hands and said nothing, putting it in a pocket in her skirt.

The two's attention returned to what the cyborg was saying.

"Since I'm responsible, in a way, for so many people getting offtrack I'm trying to clear my karma by helping out a little bit before I go on those trials." The cyborg hefted the sack, walked back into the hole in midair.

"Wait." The redhead stopped him and pushed something into the cyborg's hand. "If you need me, use this. It can be used to contact me. If I'm able, I will come."

The cyborg nodded once and vanished.

"What a weird chap." Jared commented after a moment, pocketing the strange spellbook. "Had to be a fighter. No one else gives away spellbooks like that."

"I think you have an awful lot of explaining to do." Artemis ordered from under a hefty piece of furniture. Both of the new girls stared at the talking cat. Rae found her legs suddenly gave way and she fell on her rear with a thump. Michelle had to lean against a door for support and tried to make it look natural.

"In a moment, Artemis. But right now I think you have two transformation items to produce. Since it appears you are using brooches, we'll need two more. One each for Mars and Neptune here." He indicated the two girls. Michelle seemed even more astonished at this than before, having to sit down.

"I can give one to Mars," the cat admitted, coming out from under the furniture. "But I don't hold any access to the sub-dimensional warehouse that holds the items for the Outer Scouts. I can't do anything for Neptune."

"Then Mars will do for a start. Give Rae her item. I'll be going down to bring up the bike I parked here this morning. It looks like we'll all be up for a while tonight with all the explaining to be done, and if my mode of transportation gets stolen I'm not in a state where I can safely create another one."

OoOoO

As explanations and introductions blossomed behind him, Jared started down the shrine steps. Night was falling, the day gone in what seemed an endless series of emergencies.

He stopped for a moment at the lowest step, pausing to look around. It promised to be a beautiful night. The birds were out, and the city so quiet. Of course, with citizens fleeing by any methods necessary to other countries, it *ought* to be more quiet than regular for a Japanese city, but the breaking up of a nation wasn't anything he was about to mourn over.

People would survive. They always did. And he would ensure they did. He was certain at least that he would do his best, and good things often came of good people giving their best shot.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mina trotting down the steps to him and started again toward his motorcycle, when a long sedan pulled up between him and it. At first Jared was merely puzzled. It looked like a family car, nothing to be concerned about, but then all the doors popped open.

"Jared! Where have you been these last few days? We stopped when we saw your motorcycle here, and... who is this? Jared, where have you *been* for the last few days?"

Jared had the totally unexpected experience of watching Sailor Moon's mom and dad get out of the car, and the mom immediately rushing over to him, enfolding him in a hug, and kissing the top of his head.

Sailor Moon's dad came wandering up in the wake of the mom. "That's right. Why didn't you call us or something? With all of the monster attacks going on I'm afraid I'm going to have to ground you if you go off without contacting us again."

The redhead was just beginning to consider faking a faint in order to get some time to think when he saw little Rini pop out of the car behind the Tsukinos. Okay, that explained a few things. The little brat had been hypnotizing folks again.

Then little Rini was followed out the car by a five year old double with blonde hair, tied up in two meatballs. Then the second girl tripped over a shadow and fell on her face, bawling.

This time he *did* consider fainting, just not as an excuse, but the real thing. Sailor Moon was five years old!

Jared rallied, fainting wouldn't help anything.

Mrs. Tsukino rocked him, cooing softly into his hair, which was something his present youth and relative small size made possible.

"Are you Jay-chan's parents?" Amy materialized from the bushes beside him. "How do you do? I'm Amy Anderson, Jay-chan's fiancee!"

"Hey! You can't do that!" Mina shouted, coming off the steps. "I'm the one who gets to marry him!"

"YOU guys!" Rae appeared and shouted. "But... but that's not fair! He's been staying at my house for DAYS! He's probably been sponge-bathing me! You've got to at least give me a chance!"

"Is this a party anyone can join in?" Michelle asked, smirking.

"WOW!" Rini enthused. "Jay-kun, our mom will be so pleased!"

He fainted. 


	8. Chapter 8

Skysaber's Choice  
Part Eight

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

Mina was watching Jared sprawled across her bed out of the corner of her eye, and smiling slightly.

Yup! Sure looked like he belonged to her.

It'd been a masterstroke to ask the Tsukinos for a ride home, then suggest they lay him up here while waiting for him to recover. As she'd been the first to ask for a ride and there wasn't much room in the car, she'd gotten him!

Leaving all those other girls growling and unhappy, but...

The blonde Sailor Scout was standing at the top of the stairs, where she could peek an occasional glance into her room to see if her hero had woken up yet (and entertain naughty thoughts about him *not* waking up, just leaving him there all night - a Sailor suited warrior's favorite cuddle toy). She grinned. So far she'd been left with the kids, which was okay as they mostly entertained themselves. Serena would poke at her pink haired sister and cry when she got rebuked or a toy taken away from her. Sammy, the boy Tsukino and their oldest if you didn't count Jared, mostly sat sulking that they didn't have any video games.

Hey, was it Mina's fault that her life was too interesting to want to play those? So they didn't have a set, so what was the big deal?

Rini had given Jared a quick frisk that had *looked* like it might have been a hug, but wasn't. Mina had to stop the girl every time she went over and started to go through Jared's belongings.

It wasn't hard after the last time Rini had tried to open Jared's bag. That blast of combined electricity and fire had looked like it *hurt!* So now little Rini's pink hair was a little crispy around the edges.

Luckily their parents hadn't noticed. Mina eavesdropped as they talked down the stairs below her, seated in a semicircle in the family's living room.

OoOoO

"He isn't really our biological son," Mr. Tsukino was saying. "But we've raised him for so long its hard not to think so."

"He really belongs to my sister." Mrs Tsukino butted in. "But she fell so ill when her husband left and took their oldest son on a training journey so long ago that she asked us to take care of Jared while she recovered. That was almost eight years ago, now."

Mr. Tsukino went on in place of his wife. "It turns out Nodoka, that's my wife's sister and my sister in law, she was pregnant when Genma left her. She got so ill from the strain of having them gone..."

"...and when little Rini was delivered we got to help out." Mrs. Tsukino took over. "Oh, it's *such* a long story! I have to thank you for listening to us. All our friends got bored of this long ago."

"No, that's fine." Mina's mother, and hostess for this situation, delicately sipped at her tea.

"So how did Rini end up with you today?" Mina's father put in.

Mrs. Tsukino giggled, then snorted, apologizing. "Sorry. It just seemed so funny. We've had Rini as part of our family almost as long as we've had Jared."

Now Mrs. Lovejoy was curious.

Mina noticed little Rini get up and go down the stairs during this, popping into Mrs. Tsukino's lap. Rini began to play with a toy parasol while listening to her adoptive almost-parent talk.

Mrs. Tsukino rubbed Rini's hair affectionately. "Nodoka was never well back then, you see, so we just took over. And when she was feeling better she wanted to go off and search for her husband, so we agreed that we'd keep her kids for as long as she needed."

Mr. Tsukino nodded. "The way it's worked is that she'll be gone for a few weeks or months, come back and visit, and then go off again. I think she's been almost near the point of despair. Everyone we know has wanted her to give up on that deadbeat, even if he is alive."

Mrs. Tsukino shushed her husband, but Mina's dad agreed with him. "I'm afraid it isn't very likely that a man could take his son and disappear for years *without* there being some kind of problem. Maybe a youma got him, but I'm afraid I couldn't think very highly of a man who'd abandon his family for so many years."

Both wives looked lovingly at their loyal husbands, and inwardly pitied the poor Nodoka.

Mina was growing suspicious about that Rini kid. Something seemed wrong about that parasol...

Suddenly Jared was at her elbow and all other thoughts fled. Her heart skipped a beat and it had *nothing* to do with surprise. Though maybe those little hearts in her eyes and the floating pink breeze with the cherry blossoms (indoors?) had something to do with it.

He was beginning to be a little disturbed by that.

"The rotten little kid has got a good story implanted, I'll give her that. Very solidly tied to some existing facts. Shouldn't be surprised if she's got supporting evidence, photos, school records, hypnotized neighbors and all that. She seems to have been very thorough."

"What are you talking about?" Artemis asked, brushing a cherry blossom off his nose. He was speaking low and softly, sitting with his back toward both sets of parents, who were discussing things below them.

The redhead indicated the pink haired girl. "Her. She's using the Luna Ball in its hypnotic parasol configuration. She's feeding them memories they don't have. And if this is anything like the last time she's also produced supporting evidence in spades. Also, she's gone for a far more ambitious story than I recall her doing. The 'cousin here visiting' takes alot less groundwork and support than the 'I... no, *we've* been living as part of your family for years'. I wonder... No, it's pretty clear why she changed it from what her story was before."

"Last time?" Mina queried. "Do you mean she's done this before?"

Jared nodded, still speaking softly. "Yes, this is fairly... well, almost expected for her. It works, too. It seems while I was spending the last few days hunting down allies she was preparing to take over my life." He held up a hand and gestured. "It works like this: We met, and she demanded an artifact I dare not part with. So rather than coming at me directly she uses indirect force. She hypnotized that family there and produced background information to support a story where I cannot spend any significant time away from her. She has the upper hand because she knows the background she's put in. By her story we're supposed to be sibs. But all of the side facts I might use to defend myself from whatever she wants to try, I don't know. And if I don't know it, I can't use it. For as long as she can keep me playing her game she maintains the advantage, and can use these 'family members' of ours to influence me."

"Is she a youma?" Artemis asked. ~Hmm, there *did* seem to be something odd about that parasol. Such pretty colors, swirling in such lovely patterns, twirling and shifting...~

Meanwhile, Mina's hand went to her brooch. She could duck into her room... She looked down when she heard mumbling and saw her cat swaying dazedly back and forth. "Saotome Jared... of course he's always been part of our family..."

She gave her cat a quick lift and shook him out of the trance.

Jared was smiling on the sideline. "No, she's an ally, but she's too immature to act like one, nor will she acknowledge that we're her friends. She doesn't recognize us. Or at least so my information leads me to believe."

He leaned forward, resting his arms on the rail.

"Fascinating. According to this story, I would be Ranma's junior by about a year, which would make me a ripe, old thirteen. Rini probably would've kept the month and day of my birthday unchanged. She'd be seven according to this clock, with Genma having been gone eight years. Nodoka newly pregnant, so that's eight years minus eight or nine months, a little older than seven. Total age of Tsukino kids: me at thirteen, Sammy at twelve, Rini at seven, and Serena at five. Glorious. What did she have in mind for that sort of tangle?"

"Could you explain that?" Mina presented a doubtful face. Artemis lurked ever more doubtfully behind. The sometime Scout pressed. "That bit about her not knowing we're her allies?"

"Simple, she's from the future, and whatever future she comes from we are a bit changed from our present selves, thus, she doesn't recognize us. I believe Sailor Pluto sent her." Was the redhead's reply. "Rini hasn't even been born yet, and... well, one of the Sailor Scouts... Well, I *think* one of the Scouts is her mom. I could be wrong on that though, not all of my information has been correct so far, especially as far as that topic goes."

"Sailor Pluto? Do you know how to find her!" Artemis' voice was so excited that it rose and the sound of the parents talking below them stopped.

"Red-kun," Mrs. Tsukino called, hearing a muffled male voice, but looking up saw only Mina and her cat. "Is that you? Are you up already?"

"Showtime." Jared whispered to Mina, stepping out from around the corner he'd ducked behind, then was off walking down the stairs. The point posed by Artemis was a good one, though. Perhaps Detect Temporal Anomaly from his chronomancy library would help track down the elusive Sailor and Guardian of Time. She was sure to be concealed. But...

It would be worth checking on.

Jared emerged on the main floor of the living room, facing both set of parents sitting around the coffee table. He nodded to Mina's parents, then bowed shallowly to the Tsukinos. "Excuse me, do I know you? You look familiar somehow."

OoOoO

The car had driven away, leaving a few disappointed young girls behind.

"Well, darn." Amy said, being unusually harsh.

"What's it like? Being a Scout?" Michelle asked, breaking into the gloom they all felt.

Amy looked a little embarrassed. "I am not sure. This is my first day as one. It was very exciting, but it was also very scary." She looked off to skyline for a moment. "Everything happened so fast. I am used to thinking about things before I do them, but there was not any time. Jay-chan was really good, though, and very brave.

"He thought he was going to die trying to save me and Mina, but he didn't even hesitate. And when he needed help, I was too stunned to do anything. Mina knew what to do, though. I can't imagine what she's been going through, doing this on all her own for so long."

Amy looked back at the other two girls. "I just realized I have a lot to learn about this. But I know that you have to trust your friends. My life was saved today, more than once, by Mina and Jared. I want to be there for them in the future. I want to save them, be someone they can trust like that."

Rae nodded, moved by the longhaired girl's words. It was a very high standard to live up to. Her life had been spent in training to reach high standards, though. She could do this. She *would* do this.

"Wow," Michelle responded a few moments later. "I sort of thought it would be glamorous and exciting. I never thought about it being scary. I guess it's like playing music in front a crowd for the first time. Everyone thinks its exciting and beautiful, but it is scary having everyone look to you like that, counting on you.

"Except that people's lives are in danger now." Michelle looked at her two new friends. No, more than friends. They had to be. "I do not know what I can do yet, but I will do whatever I can to help you out." Whatever it takes, the young woman promised herself.

Rae looked over at the motorcycle left behind and concealed a smirk. He'd be back. And by then, she'd have a plan! "Well, I need to get working on cleaning up this yard. Anyone want to stick around and help?"

Amy finished memorizing the license plate number. Last name Tsukino, figure they were in the area and Tsukino wasn't exactly a common name. It shouldn't take *that* long to narrow it down. "I don't think I can. I've got homework and all. Though we do need to exchange phone numbers, for Sailor Scout business from what Jay-chan was saying."

Michelle quickly scratched out her phone number on a note pad. "I'll be staying here for a while, but that is my home number. If that's all right, Rae?"

The shrine priestess nodded. It would be good to have the company.

Aqua hair was shaking. "Though, without one of those transformation brooches, I'm not sure how much I can do."

"Well, we can still talk." Rae mentioned, not saying how BADLY she needed to. "Hey! What about that ring from the Boomer's sack?" Rae pointed out. "It *looks* magic. I bet it could do something."

"So does that bow of yours."

"This little thing?" Rae took out the miniature bow from where she had tucked it into her top. "Yeah, it looks magical, but the things only as long as my forearm. See? There can't be much draw to it. Pretty useless."

Rae held the grip out as if sighting along her arm. CLAKK-CLAKK>

Amy nodded. "That's a full sized daikyu now. You know, this magic stuff may seem impossible, but it *does* seem handy. I hope you didn't steal those things."

Rae laughed nervously.

Michelle didn't waste any further time, but stuck the ring on her finger. Then she tried squeezing the sides, pointing it at a few objects, and using phrases like "In the name of Justice I invoke thee" and "Abracadabra, Hocus Pocus" without any visible effect.

"It may require a specific phrase to activate it. Jay-chan may be able to research it," Amy opined after a few minutes of watching Michelle try everything she could think of. As well as some ducking and flinching from her as she accidentally pointed it in the direction of the others.

Michelle nodded. This gave her an excellent excuse to monopolize her Red-chan's time briefly, and who knew what could come of that! Well, she did if she made the appropriate plan. She was now one of these Scouts, and so she had an even better chance than the average citizen of dying from a youma attack.

The same thing was running through three young ladies heads. ~Life is but a candle in the wind. Best to blaze while you can.~

OoOoO

It was determined by common consent of the Tsukinos that Jared had lost his memory through some youma assault or other, and they'd forgive him and take care of him anyway and this also happened to explain his absence rather well.

For Jared it left him free from trying to live 'remembering' whatever history Rini had developed. But it still bound him to their rules, which he wasn't ready to break yet. They bundled him off to their home, where it turned out that Sammy had his own room, Rini and Serena bundled together, and he got the remodeled attic.

Lifting up the model race car and looking over the sports posters and rock star photographs, he concluded that whoever had been hypnotized into decorating his room didn't know a thing about him.

OoOoO

Late that night, the door to Rini's room crept open. The two five year olds (Rini may have constructed a history where she was seven, but she *looked* five, and that's what his sourcebook had said her age was) had apparently fallen asleep not long after both of them had gotten exhausted during their fighting, and they were now engaged in a slow motion, unconscious wresting match to see who could get the most covers.

A packet of waxy, black substance was produced from within folds of the dark and shadowy intruder's garments. Twin, bright needles were rubbed in the substance. Then the intruder went to the bedside, sprayed two spots with topical anesthetic, and stabbed both children.

Jared swept off his mask. The Drow sleep poison would keep them out of it for awhile, hours really, but it wouldn't harm them. Still, he would have done without it if he'd had a pick pockets skill. However that was one of the thieving abilities a fighting monk did without.

It would have caused problems if either of them had woken up during this.

Swiftly, he searched both children, their room, and finally found what he wanted in Rini's clothes discarded by the side of the bed. Odd, he would've expected her to be wearing it at all times. Probing more deeply with his magical senses, he determined that this was, indeed, a fake. A magical trap.

Replacing the fake where he'd found it, the youth went to the bedside and searched Rini again, finally coming up with what he was looking for, concealed in one of the twin, earlike buns on the side of her head.

The youth took the time key and arranged all as it was, though he spread the covers evenly over both children. Then he retreated softly to his own room and applied magical energy to the key. Before him opened up a wide magical portal, and he went inside.

On the other side was what he'd expected, Pluto beside the Gates of Time, an enigmatic smile on her face, amidst what *might* have been a well-lighted chamber if it had held any features other than the light and mist and a sense of space.

~Smiling because she knows something, one of her plans is working, or that I am now here and convenient to be destroyed?~

The youth walked forward boldly.

"Sailor Pluto, it is my intention to assist the Scouts, and I need forty years." He held up a finger. "One to get my magic back unscrambled from the tangle it's become. Four to integrate that new spellbook into my style and to devise and test new spells. Five to complete projects that I've left for far too long and could be of significant use to us, and thirty to research the magic of the Silver Moon Kingdom and devise additional weapons and equipment for the Scouts."

He stopped and stood at parade rest, hands clasped behind his back. "I figure most of that I could do in a sea floor in a protected habitat I could create, but for the last two I'll need access to the libraries of the Moon Kingdom. If you'll put me back during a period before their fall I'm confident that I can handle all of the infiltrating of their mage emporiums, libraries, and academies myself. I am also confident that my impact could be kept negligible, especially if I was forewarned of significant details." He smiled wryly and lowered his head to gaze below his brows. "But perhaps even if I was not. All I ask is the time and to return to this night."

Without a word, Sailor Pluto took two steps to the side, leaving open the way to the time portal.

He made no move, but raised a single eyebrow.

"It is pre-set." She said simply.

He gave her a nod and started forward.

"That was a flattering image you presented of me down there." She said to his departing back. "Thank you."

The youth would have stopped but at that moment time seized him and he was off into the past.

Behind him, Pluto rubbed her almost unnoticeably swollen belly. "You see that? How brave your father is?" She bowed to her double, now stepping out from behind the cover of mists, and the Pluto from the future departed into the portal herself, back into the time from which she'd come.

Behind her, the Pluto of the present's eyes had widened considerably.

"That *would* explain why she was so anxious that I not hurt him." She said to herself. A speculative gleam came to her eye, and a real grin found its way to her face.

OoOoO

A while before this was going on, Nephlite had walked into one of the many caverns in the remnants of the fortress Jedite had created. Rows upon rows of shiny, black crystal coffins were filled with comatose humans feeding their energy directly into the stores of the Negaverse.

The energy of a trapped human was pitiful, nothing when compared to the live ones wandering about, releasing their energy through all those pathetic emotions.

And yet here the dark general paused. They *had* the energy, and they, the dark forces, had to steal it. What had that other self, that fated self the Mage had been so convinced of, what would Nephlite figure out in his future that would cause him to forsake this dark kingdom?

And that girl, what of her? What part did *she* play?

The general looked around himself. This was the last of the energy caverns, places where humans were kept as source for the Dark Kingdom's power. Jedite had practically abandoned this when the difference between their rich, wild energy and the pathetic trickle from those trapped had become obvious. But these were also a secure source, not drying up like their raids or other outside sources were doing from security measures forced upon them by the war.

Beryl wanted this operation expanded again.

Nephlite paused. The only surprise had been that one, empty cave, where all of the coffins were unoccupied. The girl... Molly, that was her name. She was not here, as he'd half expected she would be.

The general stalked off again. He would ask the stars, they would show him.

OoOoO

The Pheonix Mage stepped out of the time corridor into a blasted and wretched landscape, filled with grey ash.

He grumbled about how, if one of his pet projects had been finished before this, he could've seen through this stuff. But casting aside that care as unprofitable, he went into full stealth mode, concealing himself as best he was able from prying eyes, both magical and normal, and flew to a greater height that he might see what was going on.

In the distance vast fires had burned down to embers and coals, the landscape was one of horrid ruin, with grey ash covering it all. The atmosphere was all choked up with floating sparks, ash, and embers.

The flames he was indifferent to, the choking ash might be a problem. He could breathe water, but he *was* required to breathe, and it was becoming apparent that the fires were not dying for lack of fuel, but for lack of air to sustain them.

Then he looked up high above and saw the Earth wheeling in the night.

~Oh, Pluto, was this humor for you? That I would get to see the dying of your beloved moon?~

The mage flew on. Flying was actually one of his natural abilities, it's just that he was restricted to a flight speed that was a fraction of what he could manage running on the ground. So he reserved his flight for those things that required it, and for a surprise for his enemies. But he was suspecting that even his magical skates, which could carry him across grass, snow and ice, mud and stairs, water, walls, and worse trials, would find a hard time carrying him through the gunk below.

Worse, he wouldn't be able to see anything.

The ash below his was a nearly solid cloud a dozen feet thick, it was going to eventually settle and cover everything below it in a shapeless grey surface...

...just like the blasted moon he'd always remembered from pictures.

Odd. He wondered if all of those craters were where cities had once been, and instead of impact craters from meteors were something more sinister, like blasts from Beryl's Invincible Shadow, that servant she'd relied upon to lead this assault.

This was beginning to make an oddly compelling logic. The destruction here was near total. The ash and fire... He'd never suspected *fire* was the cause of so much traceless destruction.

No reason he shouldn't have, though. It had been used that way historically too many places to count, just not to the extent of burning away an atmosphere. Still, all this destruction by fire...

There was something he could do about that, but not now. Too much historical disruption would be caused. Perhaps later he would. If he did it in his own time then Pluto would have no excuse to have a fit.

Just as he was beginning to have a concern for air, the presently flame haired redhead saw a flash of white out of a previously unnoticed clear spot of ground. He flew over that way. It was the remnants of a hill, with fallen columns and broken stone. A seal of stone was implanted in the ground, one he even recognized from the series as containing the last message of Serenity to her child and her guardians.

What he saw before all this though...

Jared canceled his flight and dropped down beside her, checking the body. In a state torn between a sigh, a groan, and tears from discovery or from the monumental bravery he clearly saw represented, he couldn't tell which, he closed Queen Serenity's sightless eyes.

He bit back the choking up he felt, speaking to order his thoughts, and checked her more thoroughly. "She's been dead less than an hour." Shaking remorse away, he stood up and considered his options. With a smile, he concluded. "She's dead. What can I hurt?"

Kneeling beside her body, he placed both of his hands upon it, then blushed. "Aw, c'mon, don't I have any *other* rhyme for that?"

A moment's thought revealed nothing.

Sighing, the mage intoned his spell, glad at least that her body was intact and thus within the rather limited parameters of his Raise Dead spell, which was his only option if he didn't want to bring her back as a dryad, dog or weasel (or, if she was less than lucky, a centaur, troll or goblin) via a Reincarnate spell, which was his only other option for restoring life to the dead.

"By the love that is intended  
let this damsel's life be mended  
limb and trunk receive their form  
let bands of life become untorn."

The former corpse coughed weakly. Fortunately, the clouds of dust and choking ash were all at lower altitudes now. The mage lifted her head, uncapping a potion and raising it to her lips.

"Here, drink."

A few swallows of Potion of Vitality passed her lips. Serenity could no sooner catch her breath than she asked. "How? How long?"

He raised the potion. "First drink. I will explain all as you do so. I requested that Pluto send me back in time to your Moon Kingdom. Apparently she had a sense of humor and dropped me in right after it fell. You have been dead less than an hour. All of your final charges; sending your daughter, the Sailor Scouts, their advisors to the Earth, those have been completed."

"Tubular." Serenity whispered.

"And," the mage whispered, a smile forcing its way to his face at the ridiculous state of things. "It appears that I have accidentally transformed you into a teenage Valley Elf. Sorry."

The Queen pursed her lips. "That would explain this urge I feel to find out what a 'mall' is and shop it, would it?"

He nodded, fighting a losing battle against a smile. "Yes, it would. Though if you get any skanky old men wanting 'ders, 'bite me' would *not* be a chill snap. Too many young girls mess up on that one. You'd want something wittier."

The Queen sat up, looking out over the wasted landscape, then began to look flustered. "How am I going to find any earrings in this? I'll bet this has *totally* wasted my wardrobe. Oh, and you can call me Tiffany. That's a more Val name, and I wouldn't want my friends to think I was a raghead or a Melvin."

"Or a double-bagger." He offered.

She turned, stunned, and unconsciously pulled at her hair. "What! You don't think I'm *that* bad, do you? Do I need a nose job? Certainly something with my hair, though." She held it up, piling both long ponytails up and posing. "Oh, I wish I had a mirror."

The mage was sucking in one of his lips and thinking. "Here, use mine," he offered, handing it over.

Serenity squealed and sized the proffered magical object, entranced by its gorgeous appearance, exclaiming over the silver sculpting and jewels and especially over the pheonix mosaic over the back.

That's when Jared hit her with the second spell.

He managed to ignore the Zentraedi cruiser plowing into the ground behind him as Serenity regained something of a mature demeanor. She handed back the mirror.

"So that is what a Valley Elf thinks like?"

Jared nodded. "Unbridled hormones and vanity, combined with a unique accent and a certain charm. I say that only in greatest fondness, some of my favorite friends are valley elves. It just didn't seem you."

The Queen nodded, delicately fingering the tips of her still pointed ears. "And now?"

The mage strolled about, comfortable and glad that atmosphere was obviously maintained around this spot by some kind of magic. "Sorry about that. I would have tried a full polymorph but that tends to erase some amount of memory, aligning it with a history in accordance to the new form. That would pose drawbacks for both of us."

~The full explanation? Yes, I think so.~

He sat upon the side of a fallen pillar. "Upon my world elves are still called the Shattered Race, though on most planets this knowledge has been lost. We were once all one race of unimaginable potential. Rather like what you've done with your Moon Kingdom; worlds were our playthings, fighting titans was a fun way to pass an evening. Then, no one knows what happened. We call it the Sundering, a magical catastrophe or a natural disaster unknown to us now. Whatever happened, we are fairly sure it was done to us rather than anything we might've done ourselves. Our race was broken up into a few major subraces and an uncountable horde of minor ones, each with only a fraction of the potential we'd once had. Not any more than men, really. At least on their scale."

The flame-haired mage looked up, meeting the eyes of the queen.

"I tell you this because you ARE an elf now. We don't precisely share this with just anyone. Anyway, soon after the Sundering elves fell to war. We were broken into parts not yet separately organized, and of every possible temperament. The very best of elves, the Bright Elves, did their best establishing research to discover, and if possible reverse, what had happened. They *did* discover a way after not too long, but they were fallen upon by the most evil of elves and were destroyed. That's because they'd uncovered the secret that each major race held a portion of our original power, but it was like a bowl fragment; The curve held a small amount of liquid, but shallowly and easily spilled. The discovery was completed when bright elves performed a ceremony now forgotten, and with the cooperation of a good race of elves who flew the sky, they absorbed and adopted that entire race, blending the two into one with greater power than either had held alone. A greater portion of the bowl because their fragments were fused together."

He paused to take breath, no longer looking at her. "Their racial abilities had increased, but their temperament was that of bright elves. This solution would blend all of the fragmented races into one. But the catch was the race doing the receiving was the one whose personality and morals would prevail. Naturally, evil elves thought this was a fine route to power and slaughtered the bright elves, stealing the secret. One of the evil races overcame another, absorbing it into their own and gaining in power. But all of the other fragmented races turned against them and nearly destroyed the Dark Elves, driving them far below the earth into caverns until, thinking them dead, the rest of the elves abandoned the war."

He inhaled deeply, staring at the ground to continue his story. "Of course it didn't work out that way. The Dark Elves, more commonly called drow, were greater in natural ability than any other race of elves, except for the slaughtered bright elves. So they survived, and eventually thrived, and finally have become a great threat again on most worlds. But they made a mistake in tying their powers so strongly to darkness that outside their caves their powers wane considerably, and sunlight causes most of them some problems."

The youth shrugged and raised his slumped shoulders. "Into the power vacuum on the surface, the Grey Elves, who previously been the most neutral, adopted some of the precepts of good just to balance out the memory of how wicked the Dark Elves had been. A race of truly good elves did not exist in sufficient numbers, so the grey elves kind of stepped into the gap as balance was important to them. The two greatest races of good elves had combined, then been exterminated, the two most foul and vile had combined and also been nearly wiped out. That left the uncaring and aloof as the most dominant force, and they retain many of those traits still."

He met her eyes again. "The secret of how to combine the whole race was lost. Even the drow, who'd commit genocide to have it once again, haven't a clue to how it was done. They were nearly made extinct and lost the secret so thoroughly they mostly don't even know they once had it. However, before all knowledge of that time was lost beyond our recovery, mages did develop a spell that would change one elf at a time to the race of the one casting it. It has to be done by consent, but you *really* didn't match the profile of a valley elf, so that counts as an unspoken agreement."

Serenity nodded, having absorbed the information.

"And now?"

~Quick on the uptake, this Serenity.~

He adjusted his position and nodded to her. "I could only make you into the kind of elf I am. It only works that way. One of the most common uses is to take half elves born of a union with humans and turn them into full elves. That, also, does not require consent. They can't even resist if they want to."

The queen looked at him and adjusted her skirts. She was waiting for the rest of her answer and royalty would not be denied.

Well, he'd asked for it by explaining things so far. "The Bright Elves are not quite as extinct as the other races believe us to be." He answered her. "Our most common tactic is to walk among the other races of elves, impersonating them. We've got special abilities that allow us to pass ourselves off as any other kind of elf, even acquire their abilities for a time to help in the disguise, or even permanently if we live among another elvan sub-species for a year. That's necessary, because right now the drow still outnumber us by quite a large margin, and wouldn't hesitate to destroy us. Our abilities include a resistance to divination powers, so you'll not have to worry about that. The only problem is that in this solar system which we are in now, you and I are the only two elves I know of. We'll both have to impersonate humans."

He laughed, flashing a smile. "But I don't think that'll be too hard. We both once *were* humans! That includes an understanding of some things a few elves would find difficult to grasp, like immediacy and haste."

The queen nodded. "So now I know what I am. If you'll excuse me, I have a kingdom to mourn over. Oh, by the way...?"

She pointed to the green hulk of the fallen Robotech vessel, now being coated in ash thrown up by its fall.

Jared smiled. "Sorry about that. I've been fighting the Negaverse alongside of your Sailor Scouts. That's why I was coming back here, to research the powers of your kingdom and help them. But another reason was one of the youma we were fighting hit me with a whammy and now all of my spells..." he shrugged. "I've already compared a few to the pristine copies I keep in my spellbook. The ones in my head got warped, like a book getting wet. Now all these chaotic things happen when I try and use them. I will have to record these versions, clear them out of my brain, and then rememorize good ones."

"You're going to record them? Why?"

In that moment, what that intonation, she'd almost reminded him of Luna. But it was logical, they *were* long associates.

The mage jumped to his feet and shrugged expansively. "It's hard enough to find spells that work. These *do* work, just chaotically. They'll be invaluable research material for later on. Think of it like this, you have a machine whose function you barely understand. Then someone comes along and cuts away half of it, but it still *works*. Now you know where the vital core of that machine is, don't you?"

The queen might've blanched at the concept of someone being so cavalier in their attitudes about unpredictable magic at another time. Now she could barely care.

"You *do* realize," he offered to her, bouncing to perch seated on a fallen pillar. "That your final spell worked, don't you? All who died in this battle went to the future of Earth."

The queen turned a sad smile to him. "Thank you."

He watched her for a moment more, then took out his pheonix quill and began to write. He wanted all the warped magic copied down before he cleared any of it out and replaced it with safer spells. He didn't want any new being corrupted by the old.

Of course, give him time and these corrupted copies might just be as beneficial as the playing around with nagas he'd done.

OoOoO

The Pluto who'd seen her future self pass this unaffiliated mortal into their past now turned from the scene she'd been viewing with a sense of wonderment. It spoke well of him that he raised their queen as his first action, and then did his best to repair the damage his spell had caused to her.

Raising the dead was worth an eyebrow being lifted as well.

It spoke even *better* of him that her future self was pregnant by him, but she would try not to be guided by that.

Too much.

Then again, there had been that persistent tangle in the twists of time for around eight years now, that despite her best efforts had grown and escalated until it'd looked like it might strangle and change all of time. He was reversing that, almost from the very point of despair.

He might be an anomaly, but he was a positive one.

She could tolerate that.

OoOoO

Inside his berth in the abandoned Zentraedi cruiser (where he'd found that light, heat, and nutrient processing worked for the most part) he looked up to see Queen Serenity standing in the door like the toy doll he felt like in the oversize quarters of these giant aliens.

The queen strode through the eighty-foot tall doorway and into the room. She nodded very politely to him. "Thank you for your patience in waiting, kind sir. Now I am ready to go home."

Jared adjusted his glasses and the papers he'd been working on over the surface of the giant clipboard he'd been using. He lay aside his pen and the book he'd been gradually filling, closing the cover on the tome of altered spells.

A thick tome.

She spoke before he could divine her intent on his own. "Wherever my child is, there is my home. You say you come from there, where you fought alongside Serena and her Scouts, yes? I wish to go there."

The mage blinked. This was practically the first time he'd seen her since moving into the hulk of the cruiser. He protested. "But it's only been a week?"

The Queen shook her head in a single, regal negating motion. "It has been long enough. I wish to go home."

He struggled with how to broach this. "Um, my Queen, I'm unsure of what your purpose is in this, but for my own I'd mentally labeled this as 'down time' and I needed about forty years of it."

~Hmm, she *can* give bug eyes.~

After the Queen had recovered, she asked of him. "Why... I'm certain you must have reason. However, this place holds no more for me, and I wish to see my daughter again. Quickly. You bear the key that I might do that."

For an instant he considered giving her the time key and waiting the thousand years until he'd caught up to 'present time'. But he'd either break the habits of secrecy long before then, leave or screw up, or by the time that present had caught up to him it would pass him by. He was unlikely to recognize it when he saw it.

At least not in the sense of 'go to this place tonight and try to remember what you'd been saying three hundred, sixty five thousand and one nights ago.' More likely he'd emerge briefly from one of his projects and discover he was fifty years too late. He'd made notes, but in the inevitable paper mess they'd get lost, or forgotten about.

Forty *might* have been manageable. A thousand certainly was not. He'd felt the need for forty because he'd had specific projects in mind. Living for a millennium in the hulk of a giant space cruiser would drive him mad, and going to the surface he knew he'd meddle.

He couldn't help it. He liked helping.

"I am waiting." Serenity informed him.

He rubbed his eyes. "A moment, my Queen, I'm thinking." He'd been making the most of his time but even with all the aids he'd been using he was only just beginning his work. The redhead looked up. "Can I use the key to send you alone, while I keep the key behind with me?"

Again that single shake of the head. It was unnerving how completely that said 'No.'

Serenity met his eyes. "That key allows travel through time. It is also a control device. Without it there can be no travel or destination chosen. I have no wish to wind up in my own past or in a far flung future. I wish to meet my daughter. Do you not wish to accompany me?"

"I wish to recover my combat capability." He answered her in honesty.

She offered him no answer. ~Okay, this is important to her, and she's willing to press it. What can she do to me without that silver imperium crystal or moon wand? More than I want to contemplate.~ He answered himself.

Jared had more than a dozen spells that would handle this, but was he willing to risk more spell casting when said lady was of great potential value in their struggle and he might accidentally do something to her that would ruin that?

Something like switch her alignment to evil, perhaps?

~An Evil Queen Serenity. Brrr!~

~Okay, what can I do real quick? There's no *way* I can get my mage spells running with any degree of safety. Forget all the research or item creation.~ It occurred to him that Serenity was, at heart, an emotionally distraught mother, anxious for the comfort of seeing her child again. She'd lost so much that she obviously was dealing with great pain, and her preferred method was to deal with it by being with her child. Pleading for more time during this emotional crisis of hers, even just for the remainder of his first year, was hopeless.

~So what kind of compromise could be struck?~

He looked up and met her eyes. "I need ten more days."

~Ten? I'll be lucky to get TWO!~

Serenity nodded. "You may have them. Then we will go and see my daughter and her friends."

He stared at her departing back. ~Wow. Fair rulers. What a remarkable thing.~ Hastily, he began to stow away about half of his notes.

~Forget converting the crystal spellbook, forget the research for now, put the mage spells on hold. If I start with my druidical ones, those are much fewer in scope and number (and which, while not precisely dependent on spellbooks, still benefited from the research. Or at least my last Dungeon Master demanded it, and that seems to have carried over. Hmph! He'd even required I make a druidic spellbook the *last* time I time hopped, so I wouldn't revert to the more backward magic prevailing at the time). Provided that I work VERY hard I can get them all recorded and then replaced with fresh, uncorrupted copies in my active memory. That'll at least bring me online as a reliable healer without worrying if I'll turn somebody into a chipmunk every time I cure a scraped knee. I don't *think* the warped mage spells will corrupt the fresh druid ones.~

A noise occurred in the deep hull.

~Hmm, there *may* even be a way to do this. Do I want to risk it? Well, yes. It's FAR less dangerous than to face those generals not having done it.~

He looked around suspiciously. He'd heard it again. Noises? Could Serenity have triggered something? Recalling the *first* of these vessels ever to crash on Earth, the eventual SDF-1, there was something about the automated machines taking one of the men from among the first explorers and chopping him into little bits for a clone vat.

A score or so Queens of the Moon would be *politically* awkward even if she survived the experience with her mind and powers intact. Getting her reprogrammed from being a loyal, Zentraedi warrior... battalion... was something that he didn't want to deal with.

Getting up, he stared at his work. "Well, if I don't start this *now* when will I? It ought to work, and even if I'm just rescuing Serenity from being *lost* she may want to talk for hours."

Breathing deeply, he focused on his quill pen.

There was a utility spell that allowed a wu jen to hand off a task that required concentration to his subconscious. Normally it was used to maintain special defensive measures in battle while the rest of him cast more spells and beat up on the enemy. He'd even used it during his attack on the Negaverse harbor fort.

It wouldn't ordinarily work on something like scribing spells, but his pen only required mental direction.

This could work, and if he merely got all of the bad ones cleared away he could take a year rememorizing his spells, where the real cost in time lay. That would leave him with a steadily increasing arsenal of reliable spells again, instead of disasters waiting to happen. A far more tenable situation.

A noise occurred again from further deep within the hull, and it had sounded mechanical in nature.

Enough hesitating, he cast the spell.

A duplicate of himself appeared, picked up the pen, and began to write in the book.

~Okaaay...~

He'd have to check his work later.

The original mage was distracted by a noise in the deep hull. He headed off after it at maximum velocity. It would be important to know if there were Zentraedi still in this wreck. That could cause problems

More importantly, that had sounded like a shriek!

Racing at a speed that would have gotten him a ticket on any highway, even if he was just a pedestrian, the monk whipped past bulkheads and around corridors. His destination actually turned out to be not that far.

Queen Serenity was locked in the grasp of a humongous battle mecha. Worse, it was a Zentraedi female power armor. Their best stuff, enough to bring down the best of Earth's aces. If there was anything he could do against that, it did not presently spring to mind. Disintegrate and Metal to Rust both hit too small an area...

The humongous power armor was joined by two others. The extras rotated on him even as the first began to stalk away with the shrieking Queen held in her vice-like grasp.

There comes a time to stop considering and act. Sometimes you are wrong, but more often indecision brings about worse than mistakes.

Suddenly calm, Jared slipped a hand into a special pouch, sliding on a heavy, gold ring held there. He lifted that ring into the air before him, saying, "I wish..." and began to hastily rattle off provisions, exclusions, clauses, contingencies, and so forth, sweating as he saw the Queen in danger, until he finally concluded in a long breath. "and involving nothing that I would view as unpleasant, undesirable, or worse from my present state of mind, grant me additional power and ability from this moment forward that I can reliably beat those things!"

And it happened. 


	9. Chapter 9

Skysaber's Choice  
Part Nine

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

The morning dawned bright and early, as they always did (at least the early part). Birds cheerily chirped in the sky, the summer sun was going to be wonderful, and it looked like it looked to be growing into a fine day.

Mina skipped over the sidewalk, hardly even touching the ground.

It was a weekend! More importantly, she had Jay-chan's ADDRESS! They could go on a date and catch up on that dinner they'd missed!

In fact, she would insist on it.

She rounded the corner to get to the house, and saw a lock of blue hair on a girl in a pretty dress standing with a picnic basket outside of the wall of the place she was looking for. Mina hurried over.

"Amy! Hi... I didn't expect to see you here." Mina got a look at the picnic basket and makeup of the other Scout and lost any hope this was a social call.

Amy looked up from primping her hair. "Oh, hello Mina. You were coming here to take Jared out, weren't you?"

Mina nodded, and caught Amy dropping her hand to her side, slipping into her pocket a piece of note paper that had Jared's address printed neatly on it, taken from a phone book and cross referenced with a check on license plate number.

"You too, huh?" Mina could only ask.

The two could only helplessly stare at each other for a moment.

Mina sighed, cocking one hip and putting her hand upon it. 'I saw him first' didn't seem to her a very strong argument in the present case. She saw the deadlock in the other girl's face as well.

"This would be easier if he hadn't projected that mental dialog about loving *all* of us." She admitted. "How are *we* supposed to decide if *he* can't?"

Amy sighed. "Well, I suppose we could both go out with him. Perhaps if he spent the early part of the day with me, then he could spend the evening with you."

Mina's eyes began to sparkle. ~Love Hotels!~

"Or perhaps not." Amy corrected upon seeing the look.

They both sighed in unison. Amy lifted her head and spoke first. "I really don't know what to think of it. Jay-chan's thought broadcast admitted strong feelings for each one of us, even that he was falling in love with 'each and every' Sailor Scout."

Amy ducked her head. "I know I love him, and it *might* have been a spell that started it, but I can think of some very strong reasons as to why I should still do it. Only I don't know how I feel about having to share him, or even if I'd want to. I took his ideas as they *did say* I had a chance at him alone, and that's what I was banking this whole date idea on."

Mina thumped her back against the wall and blew upward, sending her locks above her eyes flying. "I suppose. But that broadcast of his also said none of us are half as attractive alone as we are together. That kind of upsets me." She rocked back and forth on her toes, thinking quietly. "Only that bit about being willing to die for us sounded very sincere."

"Yah." Amy leaned against the wall. "And he acted like it, too. I'm not sure what I ought to think about that."

Mina looked at her companion and budding friend. "That bit about all us Scouts making a better team. It's odd how he knows so much about us, even before we'd met any of each other. But so far he's been correct... so far."

"And it sounded very well reasoned." Amy concluded. "Like he'd spent alot of time thinking on it. He might know alot more that we don't even suspect."

"Yah." Mina agreed. Then they both sighed out little puff-clouds of steam.

"Well," Amy pushed away from the wall, standing straighter and straightening her skirt. "One thing was very clear, though. If we act together and reason things out he'll be alot happier with us and we'll each have a better chance. That broadcast said he was falling in love with all of us, but the team was more important. If one of us were to damage that team, it would obviously hurt our chances."

Mina gazed out over the street. "I was so worried I couldn't think about where he said that about him falling in love with *all* of us. How many is all anyway? It seems like it might be more than you and me."

Amy nodded. "There are obviously more of us out there. Just that illusion he cast had three Scouts, and later we *met* Sailor Neptune. So it seems logical that the other two might exist as well. There is also Mars, and he's been caring for her for days. How many other Scouts could there be?"

Mina gave a long sigh, smiling because she was torn. On the one hand more Scouts meant more people who might be like Amy and Jared, people to be there when they were fighting the bad guys. On the other, it meant more *rivals* for Jared!

She was torn, feeling both good and bad.

"I know what you're thinking." Amy told her. "It's about how getting us together as a team seems quite a priority to him, but what would sharing him with a team feel like?"

Mina blew out a deep breath. "I wish I knew. I mean, if it were all people like you maybe it wouldn't be so bad. I mean... Oh, I think we could make an okay team. With your fog to cloud an area I'm sure I could dodge *alot* of attacks more easily, and hit the bad guys with more crescent beams. That could actually work really swell. If that's what he meant about our 'unique qualities combining so beautifully' then I think I could handle that part. Fighting the bad guys might even be fun again."

"Well, I think stopping the Negaverse is something that we can all agree on."

"Yup!" Mina also pushed away from the wall. Then she laughed nervously. "No hard feelings if we each try and get him alone, though. Agreed?"

"Agreed. We could even be friends." Amy chirped, proffering her hand.

Mina accepted. "Friends." Then she checked her new friend over. "You're not used to having your hair long, are you?"

"No, was it that obvious?"

"Only to me it was. Tell you what, we'll *both* go in there and share Jared for the morning. Then, if we don't get an attack, we all go somewhere with him and pick up the two other Scouts so we can discuss Sailor Business. Then this evening we all have a slumber party and I help you learn how to wear your hair long, I think we're all *really* going to need the time to talk over all that's happening. Interested?"

Amy produced some slips from her sleeve. "I have two tickets to an amusement park. We could get some more and invite everybody."

Mina happily nodded.

They headed for the gate. On the other side they were met by both Michelle and Rae, the former in a flattering dress and the latter wearing a very pretty red skirt and silk blouse. Both were rigged out to the nines.

"So he said he was in love with *all* of us?" Rae said despairingly.

"That would confirm the reports I heard on TV." Michelle reported thoughtfully.

All three other girls stared at her.

The aqua-tressed maiden shrugged. "Over a hundred patients and hospital staff heard that watching from windows. They've been airing a collected transcript since last night. The speculation on THAT is even greater than on the revealed knowledge that all of those Dark Generals are under some form of mind control."

She flashed a smile to the other Scouts. "Though I got a good look at what I'll be like in a Sailor costume. Anyone care to tell me how that happened? I don't remember being there last night. And if I *could* transform I'd like to know it."

Amy and Mina both sighed.

"We'd better let Jared explain it."

OoOoO

Artemis checked the house. Finally empty.

He hopped up on the TV set and stuck in a tape he'd picked up with his teeth. Jumping back to the couch, he hit the play button on the remote control.

The opening credits for 'Skysaber, The Motion Picture' began to roll.

OoOoO

Pluto, who'd been listening for the call, interrupted it before it could reach her past self of the age, who was still mourning for the loss of her Queen and Kingdom, and opened the gate to let the travelers though.

The nose cone of a veritech poked through the time portal, followed by the rest of the plane in guardian configuration. The transformable jet landed on its thrusters and the canopy popped open.

"Look, I *said* I was sorry."

Queen Serenity, who was held in the transforming fighter's left hand, was still too upset to comment. So she stayed silent, though her glare was cool bordering on chill.

The fighter crouched and released captives from both hands. From the left, the Queen of the Moon, from the right, what looked to be Jared in his Pheonix guise. A young man with red hair hopped down from the cockpit wearing an RDF flight suit. He paused and touched the fighter's leg. The entire veritech wavered and vanished, then he turned right back to the Queen.

Seeing her frosty expression, he gave it up and turned to Pluto.

"It's *not* my fault." The youth pled. And Pluto, who'd been something of a video junky (the passage of all those boring years. What would you do? Knit? She did, and very well), noted the nonregulation alterations to his attire. There was a bright scarlet silk sash tied around his waist and dangling to his knees on one side. His boots were also scarlet and appeared to be made out of something supple, like leather, and may well have been worn over the uniform boots, as the latter were vacuum-proof. He also had red gloves and a silver head ornament that made him look like he had a pair of cat ears perched on the top of his head.

"What could I have done?" The youth continued to plead. "There were three of them in a tight corridor. I *didn't* use any frag missiles. And when I shot the arm off that was holding her I did it at the elbow, as far away from her as possible! How could I tell if one of those would step on her like that? Those were Omega Defense Drones, made to defend a *Robotech Factory!* They were even worse than the female Zentraedi they were disguised as!"

Pluto noted that the Queen continued to behave as if upset at the young man. Serenity turned and said hotly. "I do NOT appreciate being a *lizard!* Thank you very much."

The young man squirmed in frustration. "Look. That was *not* subject to my control! You were a bug splat, a smear on the floor. Raise Dead couldn't *do* anything for you! I'd a choice between bringing you back or not, and I more than half expected that a Reincarnate during *that* time period would catch you on to the tail end of that huge spell you'd cast over your whole kingdom and just send you to Earth to be brought back as a human along with everyone else!"

He lowered his voice and grumbled aside, unintentionally letting Sailor Pluto hear his words. "If I'd have thought about it I would have waited fifty years until I was ready to go back with my work done."

The one in the guise of the Pheonix Mage still had not said anything, and Jared caught Pluto's curious gaze about it.

"A simulacrum." He answered the unspoken question.

The young man in the RDF uniform put both his hands behind his head, gazed straight up and stretched. "So far he hasn't *said* anything, but he's been like another set of hands for me. That seems to be his only guise, though. I wonder how I'm going to keep him. That is *not* exactly an inconspicuous costume."

"You could still fix what *I* am!" The Queen turned back and accused.

The veritech pilot dropped his arms. "Sure, if you want to risk it. You might end up as a baboon or something, though. I can't help that, though if you'd wanted to *wait* a year..."

The anger in Queen Serenity's eyes was obvious.

Jared turned back to Pluto. "You see? Almost everything magic I own got stuck in an extra-dimensional space that I *can't access* as the price of casting that second spell that raised her. And this is the thanks I get." He shuffled his toe on the floor before Sailor Pluto. "And all my favorite clothes were magic, too."

Queen Serenity actually got embarrassed, and much of the heat in her died. She turned her face half away. "It's just that... laying eggs..."

The pilot drooped his head so he was staring at the floor. "You know, there are many who'd labor their *entire lives* to be turned into dragons, and one that can alter her shape to appear as human, no less."

He raised his face and met Pluto's startled gaze. "Silver Millennium, Silver Dragon. You'd think there was some cosmic humor at work here."

The redhead shot the glare of tried patience over to Serenity. "And if Her Royal Reproductiveness would calm down and *listen* for a while, I'm certain I could get my spells back and something prepared to restore her mammalian status *long* before she had a husband and cause to worry about it! I'd even give her a Fertility spell as a wedding present and she could *fill her house* with diapered little moon princesses in bawling little litters if she wanted to!"

Pluto was having an extremely hard time keeping her smile enigmatic.

The young man turned back and saluted her. "First Captain, Jared Saotome reporting from special detached duty, ma'am! Timeline unaltered save for one less body and one extra hill, which was so thoroughly cloaked in ash by the time we left it that even its outline was substantially blurred. And if you accept my presence in your timeline at all then whatever I do in *this* period has to be valid, so I brought this lady back to aid in our battle here."

Pluto, looking slightly less than inscrutable, said simply. "At ease."

He relaxed into a parade rest and flashed a glance over at the Queen before his gaze returned to dead center on Sailor Pluto. "I have to report that the mission was not a success, though. Circumstances arose which prevented any of the designated mission parameters from being fulfilled."

He relaxed, and smiled to the green haired girl.

"We entered what I *thought* to be an unoccupied Zentraedi wreck, and wasn't. It *was* a highly automated yet badly damaged battlecruiser with a cargo of drones for a Robotech Factory. Queen Serenity got attacked and I cast a wish in order to get the 'power and ability' to save her. Unfortunately, I forgot to include equipment, but I had a clause in there against incomplete solutions, and so became the only veritech pilot I'd ever played who had sufficient martial art experience that he was able to store a whole veritech in stuff space. Thus the clause led to the 'ability' and I had my fighter with me when my pilot was added to the gestalt that is me."

There arose a sunny smile. "And it was a good thing. The Fire Angel is heavily upgraded, I did all the work myself. She's a sweet little ship. I would've hated to have to repaint all my squadron markings on another one. I've never been shot down, not even in the Mars campaign, which was as rough a one as you'll ever hear about. I'd tell ya the whole thing if it wasn't so classified I'm not even able to dream about it. And then, later, when we'd been sent in that experimental jump ship where the fold device didn't work right and we ended up fighting the Four Horsemen in Africa. That was a cinch by comparison."

He dropped her a wink and said behind his hand. "Though the incarnation of Death was a total wimp, let me tell you. Didn't have a single weapon or power that could reach out past two thousand feet, and *we* didn't have a thing on us that didn't have twice that. And since even our destroids were three times as fast as he was we just kept out at range and played 'target shoot', occasionally stepping on zombies. Pestilence was alot tougher. Those bugs kept getting in the intakes and fouling things, so we just dropped back, deployed a nuke, which handled all of the bugs *very* nicely, and swept back in while it was still raging hot to take the guy out. With either one it was only a matter of dropping enough bullets on him faster than he could regenerate. Once we'd used our nuclear 'bug spray' Pestilence was as much of a wimp as Death, even more really."

He rolled back on his heels and shone merrily. "They might've tried ritual magic to get some extra range on us but that's hard to do when you're blowing up. Though, if we'd thought about it or knew ahead of time, we'd have had our veritechs just wrestle them to the ground, bind them with this guy's magic manacles and wait with their rune weapons in a magic stew pot to melt them at the next solstice. That's what the guys taking out Famine did. And let me tell you, that world's been *alot* greener since they did it. Hardly any desert at all. You ought to see it. A pretty place."

He blinked innocently, and with a huge smile. "Alot like your hair. Very green."

The pilot made a funny face. "Playing with all those necromancers in Egypt was fun, too. Blew up the dam on the river Nile, nuked 'em just for fun (which actually didn't do as much as when all that water hit and washed away most of their cities, but it *did* stir things up an' keep 'em interesting), blew away some of their nasty stuff as it rose to greet us, and ran away. Of course, some of the big stuff survived. Torqued 'em off like you wouldn't *believe*, though. Guess that it's hard to animate a body when all you've got left of him is waterlogged ash. Really tore the heart out of their empire, though, and all *sorts* of people with grudges against 'em were willing to mop up the remains!"

Jared leaned forward conspiratorially. "NOTHING as hard as Mars was."

He popped into a perky stance. "Anyway, I cleaned up the moon for ya. Things went swell." He leaned forward and spoke behind his hand again, eyes twinkling. "If you overlook certain people's *dissatisfactions*."

Pluto was having a *very* hard time not liking this young man. She resolved to look up this timeline of his.

"So," he perked to a higher stance ready to walk away. "How much sleep do I get before the night is out?"

She waved to another portal. "The morning has already broken..."

"WHAAATT!"

He'd grabbed the Queen's hand and dove with her through the portal with her hair flying out behind. The simulacrum followed them through a moment later.

"Well, this ought to be interesting." Sailor Pluto turned to view through the portal.

OoOoO

"I have never *been* handled so!" Queen Serenity protested once her feet had hit the ground and they were through, into his room. She yanked her hand back.

"Yeah, whatever. Look, I gotta..." Much blinking was going on. "Nah, screw it. If Rini wants to steal from me at least getting her key back will give her something to do."

"Who is Rini?" Serenity asked, even as the simulacrum wandered through and the portal closed behind it.

"Your granddaughter. You'll find her with Serena downstairs. Rini's the one with pink hair."

OoOoO

Serenity swept grandly out of the room. Dropping all concerns for lesser things (like the mage) as she descended out of the attic and past Mrs. Ikuko Tsukino, who'd been coming to get Jared to come down for breakfast.

Ikuko noted the Queen's dress (rumpled via veritech handling), hair (disturbed for many reasons. Being dead doesn't do wonders for your coiffeur), and excited state (anger anyone?) and came to precisely the wrong conclusion.

Fortunately, Jared's head and upper portions popped down from the trapdoor that led from the attic, waving his fist. "And *stay* out! Next time you come into my room you'll *wish* it was only giant aliens attacking to turn you into a lizard, you oviparous... Oh, hi mom."

The mom was too confused to lose her cool. "Red-kun, who was that woman in your room?"

He caught the double drift. "What? Her? You gotta be *kidding!* Her breath alone would kill a man. Freeze him solid." He'd finally lost his patience with Queen's handling of him, and it was showing.

His female guardian looked doubtful.

"Try throwing her wet and naked into a freezer next to the ice cream sometime. She'll enjoy it. Make her feel at home." The redhead quipped, still hanging upside down. "Cold blooded icicle drake." He muttered darkly.

The mother cocked her head, still confused. "But if you don't like her what was she doing in there?"

"Other than leaving? Nothing. And leaving is something she can do whenever I find her in here." The head and body withdrew back into the attic.

"Breakfast is ready, Red-kun!" Ikuko called up into the attic after him. "You'll want to come down, we're having squid!"

There was an almost muffled disgusted noise from beyond the trapdoor. ~What, had Rini set this whole thing up to *try* and disgust me?~

The doorbell rang and Ikuko, the mother of the household, ran off to get it, to the accompanyingly distant sound of her son tearing rock posters off his walls.

OoOoO

Pluto, watching the scene, began to laugh. She'd mourned for her Queen many long years ago, and gotten over it.

Now it was almost... no, it *was* funny to see her foibles exposed and the antics of the young man as his patience finally snapped concerning her overly regal ways.

They'd had a place in the Moon Kingdom.

This was no longer the Moon Kingdom.

A confirmed hero against a misplaced Queen. Provided they worked together on important things this ought to be interesting indeed. Out of the side of her gaze she watched as the temporal disruption that had been growing for years began to diminish at a swifter rate.

Interesting indeed.

OoOoO

Lita had the drapes drawn, and the radio on, as was usual for most of those still trapped in the Greater Tokyo area. Not to listen to music, but for the youma alerts and news of the collapse.

For weeks before this Phoenix Mage had shown up, the youma typically ran the city and drained whoever they pleased. Even if Sailor V showed up, they beat her into the ground roughly half the time and continued on with what they were doing. The Self Defense Force had been slaughtered, the Diet had gotten drained while in session (resulting in the survivors now telecommuting), and any sort of large gathering of people had become almost an invitation to be attacked.

Now it was better, but how long would it last?

People didn't want to get their hopes up, though clearly each victory against the Negaverse was savored by the masses, the subject of lengthy debates and speeches from politicals and reporters. Oh, and celebrities, though Lita really wondered if Kotono Mitsuishi's proclamation that "the Phoenix Mage could ride on HER motorcycle any day!" was actually necessary. Noriko Sakai was uncharacteristically vocal on that point as well.

Still, Lita stirred her soup (many of her common ingredients being out-of-stock due to the high price of shipping into the Tokyo region) and considered her options. She still couldn't get out of the Tokyo region herself. Her parents had paid for the apartment, and an uncle had arranged for a trust fund to pay for it, but transferring it had proven impossible. The "mail order bride" business was booming right now, with other families and girls trying to get out of Japan, and Lita was considering making some correspondents as a potential way out. (Talk of nuclear weapons to be used on Japan to contain the menace, now that it was sufficiently clear that there WAS a menace, might just be speculation and rumor but who wanted to chance such a thing?)

At which point a hole ripped open in midair, and an 8ft tall, 4ft wide, and 3ft thick metal statue walked through the hole.

"WHAT THE?" The figure looked around her living room, seemingly puzzled, and set down a large sack. "This ain't Mimir's Well. I KNEW I should'a taken that left turn at Albuquerque!"

Lita recovered enough to scream. She did so.

"Huh? Makoto Kino? Or is it Lita Storm here?"

Lita realized her back was to the wall, or at least the stove, and that there was no escape. "You know me?" She reached into a kitchen drawer without looking, grabbing what she hoped would be a weapon. Though what a kitchen knife could do against the Boomer, she had no idea.

"Know OF you, maybe. Actually, i kinda identify with you."

"Okay, let me go or... I'll..." Lita realized she was threatening a Boomer right out of Bubblegum Crisis with an egg whisk.

"Cause me to die of embarrassment?" The creature cocked his head at an angle to regard her. "You know, you look taller on television."

"Do tell..." Lita began to fractionally relax as she noted the posture of the big metal brute. Nervous, obviously, best not to do anything to set him off.

"Look, give me a couple of minutes. i shouldn't be here, i should be in Asgard, but something obviously went wrong and i ended up in the wrong timeline or something."

"Uh huh." Lita watched the figure unsling his sack and start pulling items out. Cloaks, robes, ribbons, shards of crystal, a few archaic-looking weapons, a pair of golden bracers, a scepter, and other odds and ends she was having trouble classifying. The daisho (katana and wakizashi) bound together by a strap of leather especially caught her attention. The thought of a samurai Boomer somehow brought a smile to her face, humor at the incongruity most likely.

"Ah, here it is." The Boomer pulled a black box out of the sack and flipped it open. "Activate scan function. Am i still in the timeline where i left the Phoenix Mage?"

"You're a friend of the Phoenix Mage?" Lita felt some of her worry leave her.

"Huh? Yeah, i guess so. Actually i owe him a debt of honor. If i hadn't screwed up, he would have gone back home and never come to this world." The figure watched some lighted display on the interior of the box. "By the way, my name's Grey. Guardian Daemon trainee, full conversion cyborg using a modified Triax VX-500 frame out of the Germany of Rifts Earth, circa 2321, currently unassigned. Computer: analyze why i was not able to leave this timeline."

"Lita Storm..." She whispered. What the cyborg had said began to penetrate. "You mean, you made a mistake, and the Phoenix Mage that has been beating back the Negaverse is here because of that mistake?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." The cyborg looked over the figures. "Oh hell, looks like some sort of temporal anomaly- magical in nature, specifically directed at me. i can't leave this timeline just yet."

Lita decided that the cyborg wasn't a threat. Or at least, wasn't threatening HER. "Uhm, you said earlier that you *identified* with me? Could you explain that?"

"Uhm sure. Mind if i continue to have this scan while i do?" Grey waited for her to consent before leaning back against a wall and gesturing to a couch. "See, there's more than one universe. More than one timeline, okay? There are versions of Earth where the Roman Empire never fell, where China invaded Japan because the 'divine wind' never occurred, where the drug traffic to and from China petered out long before the Boxer Rebellion, and so on. You with me so far?"

Lita nodded. "Sure, I've seen Star Trek."

"Okay. That helps. Now i am originally from one of these other timelines, where you and a number of your friends are the main cast of a television show."

"I... don't actually have any friends," Lita confessed, biting her lip. Who would want to make a television show based on HER? They'd have to have taken a lot of liberties.

"You will. You're thirteen or so now? By fourteen, in the series at least, you are a member of a close circle of friends. i've seen a couple of them, and can get you in touch with them, i think. Anyway, in this series you play a certain role. You are the stalwart courageous friend, who's always getting into fights on behalf of your friends, often getting your butt kicked though you never stop doing it. You also find a potential boyfriend, only to continually have your hopes dashed. Still, you never give up. i have *lived* the same role, for many years."

Lita decided she didn't want to see this television series. It sounded depressing. "So, this series is American?"

"No, but it's dubbed. Why do you ask?"

"You started out in Japanese but switched to English after I mentioned 'Star Trek'." Lita shrugged. Of course, being half-American, she didn't have nearly the usual Japanese prejudice against gaijin. Not that there was much to be found in Japan right now, as simply being Japanese was to be associated with the latest disasters.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, it's a native language. i gotta datapak that runs a translation program, fluent in 27 spoken and written forms of communication." The cyborg shrugged. "Well, maybe i should get you in touch with the Phoenix Mage, that way you can be Sailor Jupiter."

"I could meet the Phoenix Mage? Waitaminute, what do you mean 'Sailor Jupiter'?"

"Yeah, well he's working with the Senshi. i mean the Sailor Scouts. Sailor V is Sailor Venus. Jupiter is another one. And shouldn't you take that soup off the stove?"

Lita eeped and leapt to deal with her breakfast.

OoOoO

Ikuko Tsukino answered her front door to find four young girls arrayed in an attractive semi-circle on her front step.

"Is Jay-chan in?" They asked in one, united chorus.

The mother turned back to call up the stairs. "Red-kun?"

"You disgusting old freak, your mother was a hamster."

"RED-KUN!"

"Are you sure you don't have that dress on backwards? Your hind end oughtn't poke through where your face ought to be."

Mrs. Tsukino turned more fully toward the argument going on upstairs. "Jared, stop fighting with your older sister and get down here at once! You have *friends* at the door!"

"*Older Sister!*" That got attention enough that he stopped hurling vile things to say at Queen Serenity, who'd stopped him in the hall. The redhead leaned out over the bannister after catching Rini's vile smile from within Serenity's enfolding arms.

"Mom, did Rini perhaps show you that parasol of hers on your way down the stairs?"

The mother blinked. "No dear, it was Serenity. Why? What does that have to do with you arguing with your oldest sister again?"

"Figures." He mumbled. "Hypnotism happy, the whole family of 'em." He vaulted out over the railing, performing a perfect over end twist to land balanced on the ball of one foot. "And remember, mom. *I'm* only a cousin in this family."

Ikuko began to look hurt. "I know, son. But you've been raised as one of us and it hurts so much that you can't get along with your older sister. Even if you aren't blood sibs you're still first cousins."

There came Rini's little face doing a raspberry at him from the upper balcony.

"Anytime you don't like what I'm doing, you can just fire me and I'll leave this little dimension behind! You ancient, bony, frog-lipped..." He shouted back up the stairs, waving his fist as he did so.

"RED-KUN!"

Jared turned with a completely honest face to the person who believed she was his mother. "But mom, sisters *have* to be argued with. Otherwise, they're so beautiful and charming they'll never believe any of the boys at school are good enough for them. It is the unpleasant duty of a brother."

Ikuko got this dazed look of delight on her face.

"See ya!" He kissed her on the cheek as he passed in the middle of a flying leap out the door, which he closed behind him and leaned against the frame, making a disgusted face. "Uhg, I think I'm going to be sick."

He caught the looks of those around him, shock mingled with horror.

On impulse he shot up and gave them all each hugs, delightfully shocking them further, but in a good way. Jared straightened and smoothed a crease out of his flight suit. "Situation report: Last night I stole an artifact of time travel, went back to the end of the Silver Millennium, brought Queen Serenity back to life, and discovered that she isn't at all inclined to listen to others when she's got her mind made up. That bugs me. Authority I've got no regard for, it's *ability* that I respect, and I'd forgotten she LOST the last war with the Dark Kingdom. Looks like she wants to do it again, too. The first thing she asked was how to get to the palace, and almost had a fit when I told her we didn't have one. Who could defend one anyway? We can't get into a stand-up fight with the Negaverse whenever they feel like attacking!"

He stood with both hands cocked on his hips. "And now she's gone and used hypnotism to make these guys think she's my sister."

They blinked. Once, twice, three times... Making little squeegee noises.

"What Queen?" Michelle asked, finally breaching the silence for all of them.

"If you want to know *what* she is, it's as annoying as underwear that always creeps up on you."

The girls all winced.

"But if you want to know *who*, then she's the ruler of the Silver Moon, where you all inherit your Scout powers from. *Former* ruler, I should say. Serenity was having a party as Beryl destroyed her kingdom. The whole Earth was conquered beneath her while *she* was having a ball with music and dancing."

"What'd you bring a person like *that* here for!" Mina shrieked, aghast.

The redhead ducked his head. "Partly because I didn't have any idea she was that bad. I mean, I *should* have! The signs were all there. Then again, Serenity beat the entire Dark Kingdom assault force, including Beryl, all her generals, her army, AND this thing called the Invincible Shadow, and did it all at once, by herself, in a single blow."

He raised his head to meet the eyes all around him. "Except, she waited in some kind of regal stupor until all of you had died before she did *anything* in that fight. Her entire kingdom was ruined because, while she had the power, she wouldn't *use* it until it was far, far too late."

He sighed, walking away from the front of the house with his hands behind his neck in a Ranma-like pose. "Anyway, I thought that bringing her back I could sick her on the bad guys and that would be the end of our problems. She is powerful enough they wouldn't last long if she'd *do* something. But no, that's *our* job. Serenity gets to sit in regal comfort listening to reports while people die to defend her right to be a royal couch potato."

"There's no *way* that I'm serving anybody like that!" Rae shouted.

"Same here." Amy added decisively.

Mina and Michelle both nodded their heads firmly.

He realized he was venting and stopped, ducking his head once again. "Sorry, look, she and I got off to a *real* bad start. Give me some time to calm down and not be so mad and she won't seem so bad."

"But are all the things you've said true?" Michelle asked.

He gave a grave nod. "Emphasis of anger, perhaps. But I've seen tapes of that final battle. You were all out fighting. Only once you'd all fallen did Serenity appear to do anything. It *might* have been a useful purpose she was off pursuing, but that *did* look like the main attack you guys were facing. All the elements I could think of were accounted for there. I don't know of any enemy resource that was committed anywhere but where you guys were at."

"That paints a pretty bleak picture of her." Amy concluded, getting three female nods at her comment.

OoOoO

Lita watched as the overlarge figure clumsily navigated the doorway with his large sack. She settled for carrying a small tray of hastily prepared snacks. It was improper in Japanese culture to visit the home of a friend without some sort of gift. And the cyborg was insisting that these were indeed her friends, or would be.

"So, you said you're a VX-500. What kind of boomer is that?"

"Actually, i started life as a human. Got turned into a kind of demon by magic, at least physically. Got most of my flesh devoured by worms as the price to avoid having to spend time with a girl named Akane Tendo..."

"Come on, she can't be THAT bad."

"Bets? Odds are, she'd lose her temper and belt me for something i hadn't done, and then i'd lose my temper at her and proceed to beat the snot out of her - or die trying. i don't put up with that sort of thing." The cyborg looked around at the way the thin crowds parted like the Red Sea upon seeing him. "Not very inconspicuous, am i?"

"So your skin was devoured, sounds painful." Lita left off the terms "gross", "disgusting", and "insane."

"Well, yeah. Sufficient that the experience was largely mindwiped from me just to keep me relatively sane. So, what was left of me was brought back, the worms killed, and the brain and upper spinal chord placed in a cyborg body. It's a combat model, built for strength and durability. i immediately put in for a different style of body as soon as i could. This sucker is too big, bulky, and frankly doesn't look that hot."

OoOoO

They sat in silence for a time. Then Michelle, smiling, came up and wordlessly took Jared's arm and led him out of the courtyard, the little group walking in silence for a time down the street.

After a while he leaned into her and sighed. "I love you, Michelle."

That brought the group to a stone solid halt.

~Uh oh.~ 


	10. Chapter 10

Skysaber's Choice  
Part Ten

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

"I look forward to hearing your own words of how you intend to salvage this situation, Nephlite." Queen Beryl kept moving her fingers around that ball, as always never revealing she was watching TV on it.

Barney continued to sing to her as Nephlite made his report.

"My Queen," he said, bowing. "The mage gathers support around him at an alarming rate. Even my spies..."

"I love you, you love me..."

"Enough of your babbling!" Queen Beryl shifted her fingers slightly and smurfs appeared in her viewing sphere. "I want to know what you intend to do about it, none of your excuses."

Nephlite remained bowing, it hid his gritted teeth. The lifespan of servants who failed Queen Beryl was astonishingly brief. Perhaps that mage had known something when he'd predicted Nephlite's death at Zoicite's hands. All it would take is a few more failures...

"But papa smurf always said..."

Beryl shifted her fingers and channel-flipped. She'd seen that episode of smurfs before. She frequently reenacted it in evenings in her quarters all alone with her rather extensive plush doll set. Though she was still searching for an evil smurfette doll...

Nephlite shifted under that uncanny silence. That look in Queen Beryl's eyes, as if she knew every thought in his head! He looked away shamefacedly. "But my Queen, even if we were to muster every youma at your command we *still* could not equal the force those three extra Sailors took out with ease!"

Beryl acquired a wicked grin as one of her favorite shows came back from a commercial break. "Hmm, that's too bad... for *you* Nephlite! Zoicite!" She called.

The female general appeared amid streams of cherry blossom petals, bowing already to her sovereign. "Yes, Queen Beryl?"

"Go Go Gadget helicopter!"

Beryl grinned and showed fangs. There was something she liked about that Claw fellow, though that cat *obviously* needed to be taught discipline! "You will assist Nephlite in this endeavor. Those Scouts need to be neutralized. Perhaps you have a plan you might suggest for how this is to be done?"

Hmm, it was an episode she'd already seen...

Zoicite made some form of suggestion, which Beryl missed as she realized that was a *new* commercial for Crunchy Flakes. Then she scowled horribly in the midst of Nephlite's reprisal.

News. How she *hated* news...

Zoicite smiled. ~From Queen Beryl's face it's easy to tell her favor is shifting my way.~

Nephlite scowled. ~Perhaps the mage's prediction will come sooner than I imagined! Power is shifting and my influence with Queen Beryl is fading faster than I'd thought...~ He recalled what the stars had shown him, what he'd not been prepared to believe even then.

Beryl's mood improved dramatically as a rerun of Voltron appeared that she'd not seen before. "Excellent, Zoicite." She replied, not having heard anything. "I'll leave it to you. Do not fail me, Nephlite. I'll rely on *you* to do whatever you can to assist her in this. Destroy those Sailor Scouts and I'll forgive your failure. Should you fail me..."

It was sufficient threat. Both generals vanished amidst promises.

A sparkle came to Queen Beryl's eyes. At last!

She stood triumphant, glowing with power. "Who will undertake a glorious mission for the Negaverse?"

Three youma appeared. "We will, Queen Beryl."

The ruler of the Dark Kingdom smiled."Yes, the Avarice girls, a perfect choice." She employed her magic to summon a colorful flyer, which she pointed to with her other hand. "The new Pheonix Mage merchandise has come out today. I want you to obtain for me their largest plush doll and a complete set of comics! I also want the Flower Fan play set, and roller skates!"

OoOoO

The Scouts all stiffened.

"Okay, now how to broach the fact that I *like* saying those words? And when they are true I can't help them from slipping out, and frequently?" Jared wondered aloud, figuring nothing much could improve this situation, so he might as well make it worse.

Michelle was blushing, and shocked. But, inevitably, smiling shyly also. The other girls weren't one bit better, stammering and off balance.

"But how do I tell her that I love these other three, too?" He spoke aloud, releasing Michelle from his side and going among the others, ending up taking Amy's hands. "For how could any man worthy of the name call himself anything but a dastardly fool for rejecting the sharp loveliness... nay, the *need* to love the incredible beauty that is Amy?"

Amy nearly swooned. Her heart fluttered.

He went on, taking the shrine maiden as his next target. "Or the fiery temptress, she whose passion outshines the very sun? In whose smoldering eyes and dark tresses must surely be found the very secrets of life and joy itself." He smelled her hair as if it were a bouquet of roses, inhaling deeply. Rae found herself oddly pleased and began blushing at the touch of his fingers in her hair.

The youth rotated to bring Mina as the object of his attentions. "But the knees grow weak and the heart quivers within my breast! For what light can there be for eyes of man if Mina shows not her face? Would not the heart darken? Yea, even the fiery molten pits of the Earth turn cold if she were not near?"

Twin spots of crimson red appeared on Mina's cheeks. Her eyes were staring.

He returned to Michelle and lightly rubbed her shoulders, standing behind her. "If a man were an utter fool, an imbecile as well, and blind to every feeling of the heart, he still could not fail to *feel* the presence of *this* gentle spirit near. What price roses to a summer's day? Or skies to the earth beneath? What is life without that touch that makes it dear?" Michelle found herself smiling at those words in spite of all he'd said to others before her.

Jared positioned himself to face them all, meeting their stunned eyes, knowing that they were still too off-balance for conscious thought and riding that fact, aware that it wouldn't last.

He spread his hands imploringly, expecting fully to get killed for this.

"The seas stretch not far enough, nor is their vastness sufficiently deep to drown the desire, nor fill the need for Amy. What fire could consume the ardor, or match the tempest blaze of love which Rae ignites? Could any radiance be held so dear as the source of Heaven's light, and Mina in its glow? And how could any man live without his better part? Michelle, that most desperately needed part of this man's soul?"

Hmm, they weren't killing him yet. What was up?

While not a *direct* Kuno impersonation, they ought to have clubbed him by now. Then again, none of them were Akane (thank the Lord), and...

While he was serious, he'd never expected to be *taken* as serious. This made things a *little* more concerning, as misunderstandings now could hold FAR more meaning than the minor clubbing he'd been expecting. Realizing there were no words that could possibly recover from how deeply he'd dug himself, he cast a spell and just stood there radiating his feelings. They were love, pure and unsullied, for each of them individually and alone. There were feelings of appreciation for their unique qualities and an awareness of deeper mysteries to their personalities he was as yet unaware of, but love for them just as they were.

A strength was not a whole person, nor was it there all the time. But...

Mina, who was fun, a quality he felt was as necessary to life as breathing. Who was also held as the unspecialized specialist; not the smartest, nor the strongest, nor the most intensely emotional, but the strongest all around. Able to stand in for the best if they weren't available, or assist them if they were. That her time alone had made her better rounded as she'd not been able to afford any weak points.

Amy, the intellectual, and the deep need he felt to converse on an equal level at times. While wonderful in other ways her strength lay in assisting others through the ability of reason, that every person's strength meant more with her helping, guiding them along, aiding them in working together, and pointing out where they might best apply their powers and efforts. In a fight or in life.

Rae, whose fiery depths made for an intensity of emotion that might match his own, and the need he felt for an equal here as well. Whose passion served to motivate the rest that they could not ever stagnate. Yet spirituality tempered and refined as well, and all the team would improve through exposure to her.

Michelle, whose nurture and support, care and kindness was unequaled. And how desperately needed those traits were, for no one goes through life without getting any emotional wounds, and the healing of those was a strength the equal of any other.

Lita, the strong, whose brawn assisted them all, accepting the heavy burdens of a fight so the rest could breathe and coordinate their skills, and whose fierce loyalty was the glue that held them all from flying apart. The one to remain cheerful in spite of hard going.

Pluto, whose reliability went absolutely beyond all question, whose loneliness called to equal wounds in him, and how he wanted to tickle her out of her shell and into fellowship, healing her wounds that her other traits might be brought more fully into life. The suspicion of which twinkled invitingly.

And others not yet so near, only lightly touched upon. Gentle Saturn, scarred by calamity, mistrusted without cause, yet willing to give her all for them all the same. Uranus, fierce and trustworthy, a stand-by-your-side companion through the worst of whatever could be thrown at you...

A team.

That the head cannot look upon the heart and say "I have no need of thee..."

Love felt for all of them. Individually, alone, and yet also together.

Love was deeply rooted as part of his psyche, and yet hesitantly, shyly, offered to them, almost waiting for them to reject it so he could withdraw and not be vulnerable any more. Frightful of the hurt felt many times before, and yet irresistibly offered all the same, shining brightly as it even carried an awareness of being nothing like it could. That, while powerful, his feelings were nothing compared to what shocking intensity he was capable of, yet were irresistibly felt even at low flame. He was incapable of *not* feeling love, they were its targets this time, and that he was holding everything back he could.

But it was escaping all the same.

It was now raining live dodo birds over a radius of three hundred feet, but that was a side effect he could live with.

Four girls stood with red, shining cheeks and racing hearts.

Pluto collapsed beyond her time portal, crying uncontrollably.

Elsewhere, other girls looked up, unsure of what they felt or where it came from but amazed all the same. Lita faltered in her step, carrying a tray of treats, as she went suddenly rosy-eyed and crimson-cheeked. In Australia a girl looked up from her tools as she tuned the engine of a race car, then had to sit down as feelings struck her powerfully. In America, a solemn eleven year old girl suddenly stopped her coughing and told her distraught father, in anxiety over yet another childhood illness, in detail and surprising clarity all about the man she would someday marry.

In the Mists of Time, Sailor Pluto transformed into a sobbing ruin as parts of her heart untouched for eons asserted their continued existence, with their hunger and need.

Jared broke off as he heard someone clapping.

Nodoka was standing by, wrapped katana tucked under her arm while she used both hands to applaud her son's behavior. She wiped a proud tear from her eye. "Ah, there you are, son." Nodoka Saotome walked up, unwittingly interrupting and breaking the moment for them all. "My sister called and said you'd had a rough morning fighting with your cousins..."

Jared performed introductions. "Ah, mom?" He prayed she wouldn't embarrass him any more than she had. "These are my close friends: Mina Lovejoy, Amy Anderson, Rae Hino and Michelle Chambers. Mina-chan, Amy-chan, Rae-chan and Michi-chan, this is my mother, Nodoka Saotome." Those named blushed scarlet and bowed low, mumbling polite things and darting glances at him.

Nodoka Saotome openly considered the young girls, sizing them up. "Oh, my son, so manly! To be so young and already... Ahhh, and four of them!" She shifted her bundle to her hands and walked among them, gazing down on the girls with fondness and frank appraisal.

The young redhead began to consider what trouble he might be in. Having his 'mom'... Oh dear. Her concepts of manliness... He hoped she didn't manage to scare any of his new friends away.

The woman focused a bright, happy smile on her startled 'son'. "I'm so proud, Jared. I never expected this so soon. Toward the end I could practically *feel* your regard for them radiating from you." She again looked over the girls next to her. "Very healthy young ladies." She said in approving tones.

The dodo storm was still going on, but his mom only had eyes for his friends and they seemed quite caught up in meeting her approval. The boy was so focused on seeing that things go well he was as surprised as anyone when a tall, beautiful young lady wearing a sun dress coordinated with her green hair stepped up to him and took his arm.

Nodoka noted the movement instantly. She turned from her inspection and blinked. "I'm sorry, do you also know my son?"

Jared froze when he recognized who had his arm. Sailor Pluto in her civilian garb just bowed to his mother. "Yes, honored mother, my name is Susan, and though I have no right to it as yet, the only family name I wish to carry is Saotome."

Nodoka instantly swept up her and Jared in a HUGE hug, weeping openly as she cried aloud. "OH! MY SON! HOW *PROUD* YOU'VE MADE ME!" Her head darted around taking in all the girls. "So which one will be first? And how many..."

She was interrupted by a united chorus of young Scouts screaming at Pluto. "HEY!" Then Jared was glomped in every direction by them, cutting off his plans for a quiet escape and perhaps running for the hills.

~They weren't suppose to LIKE this! They were supposed to let me GO!~

Somewhere, a black-haired young man looked around, agitated.

"I hate that feeling." He muttered. "It's like... like... someone just got MY harem..." His voluptuous, scantily clad oni girlfriend flew up in her tiger striped bikini, caught him peeping on the girl's bath again, and mayhem ensued.

Back in the street, Nodoka froze in place, then snapped open a victory fan and just beamed. A dodo bird hit her on the head and her eyes flew wide at the impact, then wider as the rotund avian rolled off.

She tracked its progress for a moment.

There was now a waddling tide of the almost spherical birds making their flightless way down the street.

Nodoka bravely ignored them. "Son, should we perhaps adjourn to my house? That way we can discuss this away from what is looking like a youma assault."

There came the screams and crowds began to back into them, swallowing the group in the press.

OoOoO

Grey was having a worse day than normal.

This was hard to do, as he typically had some of the worst beings in the multiverse find humor in tormenting him. But it was mostly anticipation that was making this day so special... He knew that it would get worse.

Nevertheless, having the crowds react to him with horror, fleeing away, getting bunched up...

He'd tried varying his path, but he'd only been running into *more* people that way, one's who been scurrying out of what they'd thought was his way. Now he was driving a crowd of what had to be hundreds of people before him in a human wave. It was enough to make someone sick.

Lita was trailing him in tremendous nervousness. Only a few minutes ago she'd felt...

Little sparkles came to her cheeks and her eyes were long ago dazed. Whoever it was, he loved her. She *knew* it! Unfortunately the thought had held no direction to it, but maybe, if she got *real* lucky! Hey! And this guy knew some people named Amy, Rae, Michelle, Mina and Pluto! It was simple! All she'd have to do was find them, and...

If she was not half so lost in a world of fantasy she'd have noticed that she was at the center of some very unpleasant attention with her Boomer friend. Grey was still considering options. To abandon Lita at this point would leave her at the mercy of an angry mob, she was no longer seemingly capable of just finding her way to an address alone, his experience with the built-in jetpack was abysmal, and...

Yup. Looked like it. The Self Defense Force had mustered what looked like the last few men with gonads if that tank was any indication.

Messy.

He reached for his rail gun. Sailor Jupiter getting killed as a direct result of *his* interference would weigh more heavily against his karma than he'd like to consider. He could probably blow the turret off and they'd get the hint.

Probably.

He hoped.

Oh, look, a bomber flying high, about to position itself overhead. Telemetry didn't read any heavy explosives, so they'd probably just pepper him with smart rocks.

Lita continued on in her dreamy fantasy, hardly even holding onto her treats.

OoOoO

"I still think this is a terrible idea!"

Zoicite smiled, playing with her hair. "That's not your concern, Nephlite. Beryl put *me* in charge. Now are you going to do what I asked you or aren't you?"

Grumbling, Nephlite began to apply energy to his task.

OoOoO

Nodoka found herself shoved up against her son and the young girls that were clinging to him like barnacles. She noted his flight uniform for what seemed like the first time.

"Son, I didn't know you were interested in cosplay." Nodoka stuttered, pressed more tightly by the crowd than she could remember being since the mass exodus had began a long time ago. Or was it only a few weeks? Time seemed to stretch so long with the emergency going on.

Jared felt a slender hand... Two! Three! Slide onto him under the cover of the crowd. He could practically *feel*... um, forget the practically, the girls behind him were grinning. Nodoka had somehow divined this and gave him a 'my son is so manly' smirk. He tried to address her comment. "Um, actually..."

There was some fiddling down there.

Okay, he wasn't ready for *that* yet!

Jared crouched and sprang out of the crowd's 'embracing' grasp, catching the limbs of a tree and swinging over to balance, tip-toed on one leg, on the spire of a utility pole.

From there it was easy to see what was going on.

~Grey? Uh Oh. Looks like either he, or that tank, are about to be in trouble.~

Then he spotted a familiar ponytail out apart from the crowd, trailing slightly behind the cyborg.

Opportunity!

~Hmm, she'd looked taller on TV, but that was Lita all right!~

A Mass Sleep ought to do it. Wide enough area, nobody gets killed. Which, when good guys fall to fighting, non-lethal was the only way to go! The situation could then be defused by the removal and separation of the parties, he could find out what the cyborg was up to and recruit Lita to join the team!

That's when his simulacrum swept on to the scene, walked with complete ease up to the hulking cyborg, gave it a friendly pat on the shoulder, then walked beyond it unconcerned and stopped before Lita, giving her a smile.

She dropped her tray of treats and didn't even notice.

The image of Japan's new hero took her hand and kissed it, then started up her arm. The Pheonix simulacrum embraced Lita, taking her passionately into his arms, held her tight against him, then dropped one of his hands to...

...have it stopped in a thumb lock.

"If you don't *mind*?" Jared asked it, as he got its attention. The thumb lock was one that even his simulacrum ought to be able to escape easily, but it *did* serve the purpose of catching the thing's attention. "Hormone crazy snowball." The redhead muttered, as the magical construct (simulacrum were typically made of ice and snow) released its hold on Lita, much to her disappointment.

The cyborg was looking anywhere but at them, grumbling audibly about kids growing up so fast these days while it held its head in its hands.

In the heat of the moment, stopping his double from performing unspeakable, or certainly private, acts upon Lita, Jared had not considered that he'd wandered right out into the middle of the attention of everyone.

This was bad, but it easily would've become worse if the crowd had continued to focus on him. However, intervention of a sort came in the form of a youma attacking the crowd, having found a feeding opportunity. Before Jared could even assess the first, the street to the right screamed as it was destroyed by another coming up through it. Other youma landed and began to terrorize.

Yet being in the midst of everyone cut his options down to nearly zero. No cape he could swirl around him, no illusions.

Anything he did at this point would be public knowledge.

The simulacrum caught sight of something behind Jared's back and cast a spell from *his* memory using *his* spell points (Hey! That's not fair!) and sent a shock of lightning into a minor youma that had just appeared. The ground also began to rip up in a disk a few hundred yards in diameter and started to drift away, cyborg, crowd, and youma all on it. Buildings around the edge of the disk were crumbling...

But that youma was a weak one and the spell had destroyed it.

By now the citizens of Japan had well developed flight reflexes, but the rising island of floating ground, coupled with the crowds that had forced this congestion and the speed of the attack, had still frozen several small children marching on their way to preschool. The youma that had broken through the street began to reach for them...

Jared had drawn and thrown a weapon without even realizing he'd done it until the creature's ruined eye sprayed gore across the sidewalk behind it.

Many eyes were instantly upon him.

His throwing blade traced a graceful, yet tight, arc and returned to his hand, marking him plainly as the one who'd thrown it. The creature he'd hit was already regenerating from the injury.

Oh great. REAL great. Why didn't he just hang a sign around his neck: Good guy incognito? Note to self: Transform into some form of disguise before assaulting the bad guys or rescuing fair damsels. Well, no help for it but to go on. He stepped away to clear Lita's side so she wouldn't be involved when she was without any Sailor Powers to defend her, while his simulacrum on the opposite side fired off another attack spell, converting two youma to dust and causing a splendidly proportioned female arm with an impressive sword to be thrust from the ground Lady of the Lake style.

The more he did now the more about him was publicly revealed. Argh! The agony! The simulacrum's next incautious spell blew away a small youma yet turned itself into a solid, inanimate crystal statue trapped within a gold and silver cage.

~Okay, note to self: Wild effects can be lethal. Much care is recommended.~

This began to look serious. All the Sailors were packed in tight in the confines of a terrified crowd, the 'Pheonix' was publicly down...

**Whump!**

...and the cyborg's rifle shot passed right through a minor youma without hurting it a bit, proving adequately that tech weapons weren't effective and earning grumbles from Grey about useless depleted uranium rounds. All of Jared's weapons and most of his stuff that bore enchantments were locked away where he couldn't get at them...

So maybe he could risk a *tiny* spell?

A youma threw a wrecking-ball extension from its arm into the cage were the crystal statue of his simulacrum was imprisoned, shattering it into fragments of crystal glass and wire.

Okay, maybe not.

It was his rule never to use wishes for anything he could do himself, nor to use them as any form of attack (nasty things tended to happen when you unleashed magic of THAT potential with the intent to harm), but there had also been this private contest amongst the members of his adventuring party about who could *misuse* a wish in the most amusing way.

Not that that applied here, but he'd no end of laughter when one of his friends had wished for Beanie Babies. They'd invaded a 20th century earth as a direct result.

Nevertheless, he had a few wishes he had yet to think of creative uses for. He had them still around mostly because he couldn't think of anything he wanted badly enough to wish for, but this counted. He slipped the ring on, quietly preparing...

...When he caught sight of that sword, still held aloft in that lady's hand.

~Aw, heck! A secret wasn't worth THAT much!~

He ran over and made a grab for the sword, only as he did so the female hand holding it opened, and the sword disappeared. He almost went back when he noticed a ring glistening on her now-open hand.

He plucked it off and the hand withdrew into the earth.

Placing it on his hand he suddenly realized that he knew no way to activate it.

In seconds panic was going to start killing people if nothing else did. Just then he caught sight of Mina's parents, the Lovejoys, out in the crowd. Nodoka was getting squeezed against the Sailor Scouts, who were trying to escape yet help helpless in the center of the crowd.

He could save them, he'd just blow his identity forever if he did.

Mina was staring at him out of the press of the crowd, torn by indecision. She couldn't change here without everybody in the whole world knowing that she was Sailor Venus! If that happened she'd never get to see her family again, or...

Her eyes were pleading to Jared.

Amy and Rae were having similar trials. Michelle just kept stoic and wished she knew how to use that ring! Nodoka gazed out of the crowd and stared forlornly at her manly son. Susan was nowhere to be seen.

One of the youma was beating the cyborg around the head with a van, which was causing far more damage to the vehicle than the cyborg, but he looked dreadfully embarrassed all the same.

Jared sighed.

"Man, I wish I could get all of my powers back..." His eyes flew wider than his face "...and have everything working right, and keep all of the secrets I care about, not have anything result which I would find upsetting, deleterious..." in wide-eyed panic he began to cram in all of his exclusive phrases before the wish went off.

There came a screech of tires and white vans with huge SkyWing Studio logos splashed along both sides skidded to a stop beside him, pouring film crew. A guy in a white, studio T-shirt and sunglasses dismounted from one of the passenger seats and tossed him a heavy, jeweled ring in the form of an angel whose wings curled back to encircle the wrist, shouting. "Here!"

Jared caught it. It was a clip-on ornamental work for that ring he'd taken from the female arm. Absently, he applied it, snapping the two together. Magic sealed them together, forming a solid whole.

More vans screeched to a halt down the street, and now all were deploying roof cameras on small booms. Sound guys with directional mikes were finding themselves vantage points while crew with clipboards, props, and portable cams began to filter into good locations.

Jared had the weirdest expression on his face. Ask and ye shall receive, right? There might have been a better use for the wish but he'd been short on time to ponder things. He swiftly slipped off the wish ring and returned it to storage. The monsters had, by now, terrorized the people who'd been there into a circle of huddled crowd. Easy to drain, less chasing.

The camera crews completed their setup.

~Hey! this wasn't an identity I care about! Created special for this occasion.~ He could feel the masking magic already about his features, and with panic to spur on people's memories *this* face is what they'd most likely remember!

A guy with a clapper came before the main camera and announced. "Devil Hunter verses Street Monsters, Live action." *clack*

The redhead even knew his lines.

Jared jumped up and landed on an otherwise deserted patch of road. Grinning slightly to himself, the young man began his role, presenting the angelic ring so that the youma could all see it.

"I can hold no enmity against those coerced into evil  
But to those vile beings who toy with the hearts and souls of men  
Since the time of ancient days we have been your destroyers!"

The youth leapt into the air, throwing himself into an energy storm he only dimly knew how he'd summoned, because at this point all was instinct. His clothes shredded and flew off, reforming into a costume of richly hued blue tunic and tights, with bracers and boots as he'd worn when he'd first arrived in this world. Only now the symbol of an upright sword whose hilt expanded into angelic wings spread wide and whose blade was lit by a chromatic fire over the center of his chest.

He landed after spinning into costume.

"The First Generation Devil Hunter, Jared Saotome! Is here. Beware!"

Then the youth paled as he realized he'd just been briefly stripped naked live on camera and it was being broadcast over all Japan.

Man, life sure could *suck* sometimes! He resolved to wait getting embarrassed on this until later, though. With a tremendous roar echoing over city blocks one of the creatures lunged at him. Jared leapt over the charge of the beast, flashing the weird ring even as he twisted in mid air.

The monster came howling toward him, Jared suddenly had cause to ponder, as he dodged, what weapons he was going to use to kill this? Almost all of his arsenal was tied through some way to a hero guise he'd already used. He even knew only one style of unarmed that was capable of hitting magical critters.

Granted it was a *good* one, but this was a nation whose hobby was studying martial arts. If he started using it somebody would notice what the White Pheonix and the Devil Hunter used were the same.

Only one idea remained.

He'd best at least try it. He actually knew a good half dozen spells for creating swords out of flame, electrical energy, rainbow light and so on. If he were to disguise the casting somehow he might actually be able to pull out one of those.

Hey, he even knew the right words!

The redhead jumped and landed up on a convenient lamppost. "Watch closely, now. If you concentrate on all that is good within you, a Devil Hunter can summon a sword made of spirit!"

Jared brought his hands together and was as astonished as anyone else when he rippled through with unfamiliar powers. The spells for Flame Blade, Chromatic Blade, Faerie Sword, Ice Knife, Enchanted Blade, Mordenkainen's Sword, Dimensional Blade and others all flared briefly within his mind along with their supporting enchantments. All simultaneously evoked and instantly were erased from his mind in an experience he'd never had before.

The fine sword that was formerly held by the mysterious lady's hand was created in his grasp. The force of bringing it forth staggered him, bringing him down to one knee and siphoning more spell energy than he'd used to assault the Negaverse fort.

He brought his head up to see the youma staggering back. The youth stood and brought his blade to bear. It looked like a lightsaber with a core of silvery steel and giving off enough active waves of power, among those waves being manifestations of fire, electricity, ice, and other destructive forces, to almost blind him.

Fear? What was this thing, fear? He was holding enough power in his hand to beggar the most powerful spell he'd ever thrown! Let them come at him during all hours of the day and night! He'd face them all!

The youth rushed and eliminated two youma with a single horizontal slash, instantly powdering them. Four others attacked, and as soon as that, the battle was over. There *wasn't* anything left to fight.

The battle might've led to real tragedy, though. All of these people had *seen* the Pheonix Mage go down. Once hope like that was lost it was nearly... well, really hard to regain.

Subtly, feeling the wand and bracer again on his arm, the youth concentrated. As the mourning folk were just starting to emerge from their shock and gather around the fragments of the Pheonix simulacrum (Grey was no longer viewed as a threat, besides, the van had fallen on him), the wand glimmered, and those fragments stirred.

Light from each of the shattered pieces of crystal brightened, gathered, and coalesced into a wavery outline, one which quickly solidified into the familiar form of Tokyo's finest hero.

The image of the Pheonix Mage, now appearing as solid as anyone, brushed off his sleeves, then tossed a wink to the crowd.

"And they thought they could get rid of me that easily. They forgot what happens when you kill a pheonix." The image transformed into a fiery bird and flew off. After the bird was out of sight, the hidden wand on Jared's forearm ceased its glimmering.

~Whew!~

OoOoO

"And NOW Nephlite!" Zoicite sang out gleefully. "Attack!"

Grumbling about the futility of this measure, Nephlite ordered his creation, and it did so.

OoOoO

Just as the crowd on the hundred yard disk of earth was about the relax a trifle, Tokyo Tower moved.

Not moved as in 'the wind caused it to sway' but moved as in 'lifted one of its supports and took a step, manifesting a vast, evil face a good long distance across and laughing evilly as it stomped buildings'.

This was not a good day for Tokyo, land-value-wise.

Ever so *amazingly* glad that he had his spells returned uncorrupted to him (and not a minute too soon, either) Jared/Devil Hunter threw his ring/energy sword into the air and cast a favorite spell.

"Whatever could more handsome be  
Than one, or two, or three of me?  
Arriving softly, without sound  
Surprising those who'll look around."

Jared/Devil Hunter caught the sword as it fell, then grinned at the self who'd reappeared next to him, the Pheonix Mage. Not an illusion this time, either. The Body Outside Body spell was a Wu Jen specialty, and the ability to recruit three or even four extras of yourself in a fight was pretty remarkable. Very temporary, but no magic known would tell them apart. At least not when they *tried* looking the same.

For a man with multiple identities the spell was priceless. The only drawback really was that only one of him got to carry his magic items and cast spells. A hefty limitation for a mage whose only recourse was magic, but for a mage/martial artist...

Thus the thrown sword, as the Devil Hunter persona didn't need magic save for the one item he didn't want assigned to the Pheonix Mage when they split.

A perfectly ordinary seeming Jared Saotome stood in with the rest of the crowds as himself as a Devil Hunter impersonator and the Pheonix Mage went off to fight the bad guys. On impulse he started applauding and shouting out encouragement.

Michelle, Mina, Amy and Rae all *stared* at him!

Amy whispered that it was probably an illusion again.

A cloud of vulture-like youma separated from the top of the moving tower and began to terrorize. They got intercepted by a veritech blazing at them with high-velocity cannon shells, which was sufficiently distracting as to draw them away in spite of the fact it couldn't hurt them.

Veritechs are not magic items. Fun, useful, but not often magic.

The Pheonix Mage landed, dropping the Devil Hunter to cover his back, then summoned a small animal, transformed it into a rust monster, and threw it against the tower.

Rust monsters from first edition D&D destroy any metal object, regardless of size, instantly upon touch.

Zoicite nearly didn't teleport fast enough as the tower beneath her turned to dust and fell in hazy, indistinct patterns and distinctive lumps of powdery rust.

Then the veritech led the youma pursuing it right over the position of a certain duo on the ground, and the Devil Hunter got a huge leap in a spinning overhand slice destroyed five of them. The Pheonix Mage blasted the last.

All of the heroes vanished every which way, taking the rust monster with them (it would later be turned back into its walrus self and let go on a beach).

Jared on the dirt island continued to clap and cheer his lungs out.

OoOoO

Grey finally extricated himself from the ruins of the van (having finally given up not damaging it - there'd been a kid's toy inside and he didn't want to beggar a family if they failed to have insurance).

Lita eventually recovered her senses enough to faint with bliss.

The Scouts attention was drawn to a man striding up to Mrs Saotome, naturally Jared's attention was drawn as well, especially as his 'superspy' abilities informed him that the man was carrying a concealed firearm, unusual hereabouts.

"Saotome-san? Well, you've saved me a trip. I have a preliminary report."

OoOoO

Nodoka blinked for a few minutes, trying to sort out all that she had just seen. Naturally, she'd kept track of the location of her son at all times and had noted a number of things a casual onlooker would have missed or misinterpreted. Now her thoughts on how to question him were being derailed by this other immediate concern. "Oh. Yes. Very well. Uhm, Jared! This is Keihatsu Kossori, whom I have hired to locate your brother and father."

Jared blinked, faculties whirring. Obviously Rini's meddling had caused Nodoka to go from passively waiting to actively seeking as regarding her son. Natural enough, since that's what she 'remembered' doing as part of that cover story, which just might be the sole positive result of all this mind control. Serenity and Rini were obviously the politicians of their family. He mused over the detective's name, meaning "Sneakery to Enlighten" and with a family name like "Sneak" was probably of ninja background. How perfectly in keeping with the Ranma series...

The various girls blinked. The same thinking going on through many heads. ~Jay-chan has a brother?~

"Sir," Keihatsu said, tipping his bowler towards Jared briefly. "In any case I checked around for any clues as to what they were going on, starting with police records."

Jared suppressed a groan. Genma? Police Records? If ever a man kept a diary it would be like reading his to see Genma's police report. It probably held more of that man's life than the old fart could even remember. Then again, there was a certain glee in seeing one less unwitting victim going along with his schemes from now on, though Jared was worried about what hearing it would do to poor Nodoka.

She was, through some appallingly twisted and weird circumstances, kind of his mom. She deserved what help he could give, as he trusted she would most certainly do the same for him.

He tuned back in as the detective began again speaking.

"Apparently, on March 12, 1984, a man named Genma Saotome collected all the cats in a neighborhood in Wakayama, put them into a pit, starved them, and then tried to feed his son to the cats." Keihatsu handed a copy of the police report (12 pages including the statements from neighbors who witnessed the thing) to Nodoka who took the report with a "you've got to be kidding" expression.

The detective went on.

"This went on seven times, at different locations with the boy being draped in food. On the seventh such occasion, Genma apparently gave up. The neighbors investigating found over fifty cats dead, cut apart into little pieces as well as some boxes and two construction pipes." He handed the photos and a further report to the numb Nodoka.

"What kind of father does that to his son?" Battle auras were beginning to flare around the Scouts without them transforming from civilian guise.

"Only an idiot. Which describes him perfectly." Jared coughed into his hand to get attention, now he didn't need it.

"Son," Nodoka rebuked strongly, out of reflex. "He is your father, you will respect him." She glanced at the girls to see about their reaction to this horrible breach of her son's manners. She was disappointed, the girls were agreeing with her son.

But when child abuse crosses the line into outright torture, most people would.

"So long as you do, I shall." The redhead responded, expecting that to be short indeed. "But I can add significant detail to what this man knows of what went on there. You see, I've heard of this." Jared said truthfully. He caught Nodoka's gaze and met it with his own, stilling her automatic objection as he went on. "It's called the Catfist. It's a martial arts technique that's considered nearly unbeatable, unless an opponent knows about it, in which case it is pretty useless. The Catfist is taught by throwing the student wrapped in fish sausage into a pit of starving cats." He scanned his audience. The detective was taking notes? Let him. "The technique has been banned for killing most of its students, and driving the rest of them mad. At best it causes some rather severe psychological problems."

"I'll bet," said Mina, looking a little green.

"What kind of problems?" Amy studied medicine, this was in her bailiwick.

"A severe fear of cats for one thing. You can understand that being thrown into a pit wrapped in a cat's favored food and being torn at by swarms of hungry little critters doesn't do wonders for your liking of them. And that happened, what? Seven times?"

Keihatsu nodded, feeling compelled to add. "That we know of."

Jared saw Nodoka getting a little green. He continued. "Anyway, the technique can only be used when the victim loses his mind and submerges his human self and thinks he's a cat. Knowing pops, he wouldn't stop until Ranma had the technique down perfectly, even though there isn't a training manual made that describes this without clearly telling all of the warnings about why it's not used anymore. To train Ranma in it he'd have had to ignore all of that. What good is a powerful technique if a ball of yarn, warm lap, or a whiff of catnip distracts you and you can't hold a single thought in your furry head? A catfist fighter is useless if the opponent even knows to throw a mouse in his way."

Jared stared at the ground. "But the training was probably successful. If Ranma learned the technique it would have enabled him to slice apart metal, stone or other things with chi-claws manifesting from his hands. The sliced apart pipes indicate that he probably learned it. Just at a cost of his humanity, that's all."

From the sorrowing look on Nodoka, Jared recalled that this was her *son* that he was talking about here... Well, her OTHER son, he guessed. He felt sorry she had to know. But better this than she continue to believe her husband blameless and so let him go on in his evil ways.

"Is your dad a youma?" Mina mused aloud, then apologized when she realized she had spoken aloud.

Keihatsu looked thoughtful, then riffled through a sheaf of papers. "Hmph. Fits the profile. I've also got some other reports here. Mainly petty theft, a couple of assault charges that may have been related to attempts to steal food, the stealing of a dowry..."

"Excuse me?" The girls all yelped at that. Interfering with a marriage? Jared's father or not, this man must be caught and punished!

"Akira Kuonji filed this report back in 1981," another sheaf of papers was produced from within the dapper man's suit. "Ranma was promised to marry his daughter, an Ukyo Kuonji, and the papers signed. Unfortunately, Genma and Ranma apparently ran off with the dowry and Kuonji-san died two years later. Ukyo is apparently now living as a crossdresser in Osaka, and attending a boy's school."

"She must have snapped from the shame," theorized Michelle.

Nodoka pulled a microphone out of nowhere and began wailing to the heavens about her worthless husband dragging the family honor through the muck, destroying innocent lives in the bargain. Then she noticed the silent and staring crowd and became instantly still. "Thank you, Kossori-san, please leave the rest of the report at my home."

"Yes'm," said Kossori, though he didn't leave.

"Yes, Kossori-san?" Nodoka dreaded this. What was so important that he felt she had to hear it right away? Did she really want to know?

"Upon learning about the dowry theft, I did some further checking. It appears that Genma Saotome made eighteen other engagements for his son..."

"Eighteen?" Nodoka repeated in a shriek, considering fainting.

"EIGHTEEN?" The Scouts considered the possibility that this *was* a Dark Kingdom plot.

"...eighteen..." Jared murmured with a nod. He'd *known* it would have been something like that. "...somehow I thought it would be *more*..."

"Seven of which," said Kossori, "did NOT specify Ranma specifically but merely 'his son' or 'his child'. When I learned of this, I thought I needed to get this information to you immediately, Saotome-san."

Nodoka nodded absently, too numb to even glance at the paper as she took it.

"Jared-kun," Kossori said with a slight bow. "Sometimes the best defense is not to be there, and sometimes the best defense is to act first. I leave it to your discretion."

Several nubile young ladies heard this and turned speculative.

Jared twitched. If he were single, AND these other girls came around, he would be in the same mess Ranma always was, either having to marry the first one to come along or ruin the Saotome family honor (as if that could even be DONE any more at this point, but still). Alternatives and preventative measures HAD to be found.

He was gazed upon appraisingly.

Jared glanced out to the street and was not terribly surprised that the cyborg had vanished. He had some deep thinking to do himself anyway. He met his mom, err, Nodoka's stunned gaze.

"Quite something for a *preliminary* report, don't you think? One wonders what the full extent should be, if this is what boiled to the surface from a mere scratch."

Nodoka fainted.

The redhead glanced between the unconscious form of Lita and his 'mom's' still form. Carrying both would be out of the question... "Hey!" He called out to the camera crew, still packing up. "Can you guys give us a lift?"

One of the crewmen turned to him and Jared was startled to realize that he recognized the guy.

The man tipped his cap, hiding his pointed ears. "Of course, Lord Sanzennin. Thy word is our only law." 


	11. Chapter 11

Skysaber's Choice  
Part Eleven

by Jared Ornstead  
aka Skysaber

OoOoO

Devil Hunter Jared leaped down from above and with a grand overhead slash decapitated a youma team leader, then whelmed into the rest of the pack, destroying them piecemeal with broad slashes they could not seem to avoid.

These 'alternate selves' of his would last only ten minutes. But it made sense to use that in the best means he could. And since all of him were excellent fighters...

The Devil Hunter turned like a pinwheel, cartwheeling over the roof of a stalled limo, taking out another youma with a deep chest slash, then vaulting back, rebounding off a wall to catch the last with a thrust that went on and on, stabbing through it and including several feet of street.

That took care of *this* gathering team!

His Mage persona, the spellcasting one, had cast Aura while flying over Tokyo. That spell revealed good or evil by area on a town-sized scale, if a little indistinctly. But youma stood out like beacons. Elsewhere, his superspy guise and veritech pilot were also doing what they were able, which consisted mostly in destroying concealing lies and exposing youma so they could be scared out of more-or-less permanent gathering situations and into fights with either the Devil Hunter, or the Mage, who would then sweep by.

He glanced back up over his shoulder to the not-far-distant floating island of rock, where his 'normal' self was trying to get Nodoka to her home. Interesting how each part of him was aware in detail of what the others were doing. He glanced back at what he was doing. Finished up here, at least.

Jared dismissed the sword of spirit back into the Devil Hunter ring he now wore, and made as if to leave, silently congratulating himself on how easy the sword was to call the second and subsequent times. Apparently all that energy had been startup cost. But found when he was about to bound away his way was blocked by a tower of dark-suited flesh.

"I have someone who needs to talk with you." The block of Japanese muscle informed him, motioning to a nearby little official sort of figure.

Jared shook his head, attempting to dodge around. "Sorry, gotta go. Demons to hunt, you know how it is."

"It is about that he wishes to speak with you." The blocky mass informed him, once more stepping into his way.

Jared had to look up and crane his neck to see anything but a wide chest, when he did he saw chin. Okay, strong. But this guy couldn't be all that fast and didn't look like he'd give him much, if any, real trouble. However it often paid to be polite, at least a little. He could afford to spare a minute, the spell wasn't about to end *that* early!

Besides, the Pheonix Mage's magically boosted speed and spells were doing a fine job of roasting youma, this Devil Hunter self could afford a few moments. He idly waved a hand. "Okay, whatever, bring him on."

The wiry old official didn't shuffle forward far enough, the youth had to strain to listen to hear him ask. "Who are you?"

"Hm? Me?" Jared began to think fast, running all possible excuses through his mind and running into the idea that the obvious was also a semi-plausible one. "I'm just a perfectly ordinary Devil Hunter."

The official nodded, seeming distracted.

~Oh dear, thoughty officials. I'd rather face Queen Beryl.~ Jared edged away, hoping that would forestall further comments. "Yeah, I've trained most of my life for things like this. Anyway, gotta go!" He made ready to leave.

"You will train others in this Devil Hunting." The official interrupted him with a brusque command, sure of his authority and turning to go to his own car. "I will send men to you to train."

"You can't." Jared retorted automatically.

"You *will* train them." The official repeated. "Disobedience in this will not be tolerated. Our country requires this."

Jared made a deprecating noise. "No, it doesn't work like that. Devil Hunting is in the bloodline, and not even all the kids of the established families qualify. They've got to be trained, know the secrets, have the purity, and above all the karma of Devil Hunters is really weird. Your soldiers aren't very likely to pass the exams just because nobody who's any good at anything else is likely to *become* a Devil Hunter."

"You are the first of your line. You can train others. You will do this." The official stated in an orderly voice as he continued to command.

The redhead rolled his eyes and wondered what unkind spirit made stuffy officials in the *first* place. He hung his head in his hands. "You still don't understand. Becoming one without being born into a family requires such a massive effort of will that they wouldn't need my training in anything special. They'd figure it all out on their own, and doing that they'd be the first of their *own* new Devil Hunter lines. When I have kids they'll be potential Devil Hunters, and their kids, and so on, and even then they'll have to be ready for it. But being the *first* isn't something that anyone can be trained for!"

His knowledge seemed to push the official back. Jared was *very* glad he'd seen so much of the appropriate series, though where all this extra stuff was coming from so easily he wished he knew.

The Devil Hunter shot the official a glance. "And you'd know without anybody telling you or the slightest doubt if any of your ancestors had it. They'd have their own artifacts and everything, all of which are made by the founder for their descendants. I can't train anyone in Devil Hunting if it's not already in their genes. My kids will be the first I could really teach with any hope in any degree of their becoming the real thing."

A retort failed to materialize.

~There, put the guy off by a dozen years at least. That'd be all the peace I'll require to finish up here and be long gone before anybody started asking about my progeny, or rather lack thereof.~

Perfect solution.

"What was your training in?" The stony official inquired of him.

Jared made a vague noise that might have been rude. "Combat, fighting, stuff like anybody might learn. It all comes to a point along with philosophies and stuff that just kind of gel. Oh, and you have to be a virgin or you'll never harness any of the energy you'll need. That's up until you become one, once you're an actual Devil Hunter you can have kids, obviously, or else there would never be any family clans of 'em." He finished off almost to himself.

"What else is there of Devil Hunting to learn beforehand?"

Jared sighed, putting his arms behind his head, dangling the sword. "I dunno. Brawn and sheer strength, agility, none of that means anything if they aren't of a Devil Hunter clan, and if they don't find their own style they can't ever be one. But one thing shines out pretty clearly: we're all pretty abnormal."

The politician was nodding. "Yes, there must be great nobility for..."

"Uh... no." Jared cut him off. "Like I said, our karma's pretty weird. You're not likely to be good at much else if you'd make a decent Devil Hunter. We're all pretty unconventional, have lotsa character quirks, that kinda thing." He sighed. "Fact is we don't often fit in very well."

The redhead flashed the official a quick victory sign. "Still, we do what needs to be done, and do it well. Sorta like Samurai started out, huh? Anyway, gotta go!"

He hopped over a wall.

The official turned to his guards, thinking. Moments later, they were heading to the capital.

OoOoO

Nephlite ground his teeth.

He was going to get blamed for this.

He knew it.

The general couldn't *take* it anymore! This failure had been blamed wholly on him! As idiotic an idea as it'd been, Beryl had made *him* responsible for Zoicite's last try. Now Zoicite had dropped the blame firmly in his lap and then taken off, and Queen Beryl had spent over an HOUR contemplating punishment, wearing that wicked grin of hers!

Beryl was watching Slayers for the fourth time, still trying to decide who to root for. For one, Lina had obvious qualities worth admiring. She brooked no interruption from lesser mortals and frequently called on the powers of Darkness. But she was a true amateur as far as treachery or manipulating others. Then, the Dark Lord, who had obvious qualities worth admiring; disdain for the lives of others, infinite power... HE got himself killed by a pipsqueak of a girl! Oh, the decisions!

"Aaaarghhh!" Nephlite arose from his kneeling position, screaming in agony of frustration. "I can't take it anymore, Queen Beryl..."

Beryl tuned back in to the world around her. Nephlite? Oh, yes. He'd failed and she was still trying to determine a proper punishment. Wasn't he going to grovel for another chance? It was expected. Ooh, look, there was that new Crunchy Flakes ad again! It was too bad they'd not had TV a thousand years ago during the *first* war with the Moon Kingdom.

"Queen Beryl," Nephlite continued. "The Pheonix Mage cannot be slain! I don't know how I can be held accountable for it! As we've already proved even if a youma kills him he regenerates from as far as total destruction!"

Beryl scowled. How *dare* he interrupt her cartoons for another useless excuse like that? It was as bad as the news. "Oh, Nephlite? Do tell me you've thought of something."

"But, Queen Beryl..." He pled, hands held helplessly open before him. "What is it that can be done?"

"Imprisonment, entrapment, conversion..." Zoicite's smug voice listed from her position, floating in the air behind and flanking him.

"Really, Nephlite, I'm disappointed in you." Beryl actually drew her attention away from an ad for a Sailor Mercury doll with live-action growing hair! Due in stores near you! ~Though I'd make a general out of a shop owner to *actually* open a proper outlet store here in the Negaverse!~

Nephlite began to realize it was hopeless. His mistakes, even ones not rightfully his own, would never be forgiven. The vision of the Mage was coming true after all. If Zoicite were even now lurking behind him...

The dark general decided then and there that he would cheat death. But he was also a student of the Dark Kingdom, he would act when it best suited him to do so, and betraying Queen Beryl in her own throne room seemed unwise.

However, it hurt less to grovel with that decision behind him. He clutched a fist to his chest, bowing again more deeply this time. "Queen Beryl... perhaps I was wrong in doubting Zoicite's scheme. If you'll but allow me this one last chance?"

Queen Beryl looked up from her crystal. What should she be doing? Oh, yes. Punishing Jedite. No, that one had vanished. What was Nephlite doing here? Oh yes, groveling. It was about time, too.

"Very well, Nephlite. But your performance had best be exemplary. I want you to destroy those Scouts and the Pheonix Mage..."

Her eyes turned a dark red.

She tore her attention away from the Sailor Team Panties commercial. "Prepare a trap for them. Hold a beauty contest, with prizes for the winners, and judge solely by what we know the Scouts and their hero to look like."

"As you will, Queen Beryl." Nephlite vanished from the throne room.

The current master of the Negaverse shifted her fingers to change channels, then switched back again immediately. Was it? Yes! It was!

"Zoicite. Nephlite's mission is sure to be interrupted if it does not end in failure. I want *you* to prepare a suitable trap for them outside of Nephlite's efforts." She took a long moment to lick her lips free of drool over what she saw in her sphere. "You may take one of the new youma to assist you in occupying the Mage while you ensnare him."

Zoicite smiled smugly, bowing with one hand across her chest. "It shall be done, my Queen." She disappeared, confident in her rising favor.

Beryl's eyes glittered in that dangerous way.

The Sailor V Video Game Two was on its way to stores! The Pheonix Mage had been a last minute addition, yet Sailor V got to glomp him on successfully completing each level!

She had to have one!

The Avarice Girls appeared, their leader stepped forward with a bulging set of shopping bags. "We've completed our mission, Queen Beryl. They even had a Unicorn Wand." A bag was opened and a cheap, plastic replica of the Crystal Unicorn Scepter which had only minor cosmetic flaws was produced.

"Good, now get me that new Sailor V game, a full set of Sailor Team underwear in my sizes and an action poster of that new Devil Hunter. A naked one if they have it."

Prince Darien coughed in the background.

"Yes, what is it?" Beryl snapped at him, possession having reduced the savor of her victory of gaining him. If only she'd *taken* him from someone, if the struggle had been more dear...

Anything but Jedite stumbling across him in a shopping mall.

The Prince strode forward. "My Queen, as much as I know you enjoy looking at any man except me naked, if you'll grant some scrap of your attention I might have a suggestion on how to turn the tide against this Pheonix Mage."

Beryl's expression softened. Her smile revealed teeth. "Perhaps, Prince Darien. But first, who let you out of your Pikachu costume?"

OoOoO

Devil Hunter Jared leapt up with a superfluous twist across the hundred feet or so to the surface of the floating rock island. Thanks to combining with that veritech pilot of his, he'd inherited scads of martial arts powers, sufficient that his leap distances were now greater than the effective range of most pistols. Grand martial arts experience was how he'd stored a veritech in stuff space, something even Mousse couldn't do.

He'd have to find out, under controlled and less desperate circumstances, what a chi blast did to a youma. He'd hesitated because they *did* feed off life energy and he didn't want to risk making one stronger.

You don't face the kind of odds he had on Mars without needing more than your average basic training would give you for martial arts. The funny thing was his partner for more of that battle than anyone else had survived was a Drunken Kung Fu master. Not only did his Destroid continually stagger about and seem helpless, it had always been falling over, discharging randomly.

And it took a keen eye to note those 'random' discharges had hit key targets.

~About a minute left.~ The Devil Hunter thought, crossing his arms and leaning up against a wall. ~All I've got to do now is stay out of sight. Let's see, my other self is awash in a flow of friendly Sailors. Mom's reeling as if stunned, Lita's...~

Devil Hunter frowned. ~Who'd left Lita alone? That was a BAD choice.~ Already she looked in danger of getting ground under by the milling, fear-crazed crowd. A fat man actually stepped on Lita's arm and made his decision for him. His plain, ordinary self was out of sight, sooo...

Swift as a bullet, he leapt in, grabbed her pale form, and leapt away again. Lita came awake in high arc as he carried her away. Laughing, he looked her in the face. "Lita Storm! I am Jared Saotome - Devil Hunter, pilot and Pheonix Mage. Lita Storm, you are Sailor Jupiter, and I have come for you."

"Me?" She squeaked. The cyborg's words resounding again in her head.

He began to shrug confidently as they landed, saying close to her to increase the intimacy of the statement. "Lita Storm; orphan, age thirteen, birthdate of December 5, 1978, 5' 6" tall, blood type O, favorite foods are cherry pie and meatloaf, favorite hobbies include cooking and falling in love with boys. Just how many other girls here do you know who fit that description?"

She fainted again, in bliss.

OoOoO

Grey sat back, as inconspicuously as an eight foot tall cyborg in the park could do, and hefted the tiny device up again. Settings okay for return jaunt to Mimir's Well. He stood and pushed the button at the end of the device.

Air cracked open in a swirling rip, and the cyborg shouldered his pack and stepped through.

Only to experience a thrown object clanging off his cerametal armored skull a moment later. On spotting a badly dented bonbori on the ground, he groaned even though there was no physical pain.

Two legs wrapped around his neck as someone leapt onto his back, and there came the sound of a metal mace repeatedly slamming into his head.

Grey switched the datapak translator to Mandarin. "Enough! I'm here to see Cologne, Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku!" Well, it wasn't *quite* a lie. He hadn't intended to be here, but as long as he was, he *would* like to see if Cologne was around.

The clangor stopped momentarily. "You know Great Grandmother?"

"I would like to exchange information with her." The cyborg, being completely honest this time, temporized.

"I won't let you!" Clanging noises began again.

"That's it." Grey brought up his left hand, slapped the palm against the fifteen year old's leg, and commanded the hypospray to release a full adult dosage of Sleepy-Bye. He caught the snoring teenager before she hit the ground and carried her in both arms. ~This really sucks. Hmmm. Village is there. i would expect the Elder's House to be about... there.~

The jet pack snarled to life and he leapt, using the jets to assist the leap and then slow descent. Flight he could do, but wasn't too good about the turning or landing parts. Jumping, that he had down cold.

Landing brought another series of clanks and tinks, and he had to hold the little girl away from the direction of the arrows to keep the Amazons from killing one of their own.

He engaged the loudspeaker. "Cologne! i desire an exchange of information!"

"How dare you steal my Shampoo!"

Grey wasn't fond of the concept of childbeating. Children who come rushing up with a sword, he was a little less reluctant to flatten. KICK!> "Cologne! i bring news of great importance to the Nichieju."

"So talk already," said Cologne as she eyed the robot, found its Breaking Points and, being at range to use them, relaxed somewhat.

OoOoO

Jared was reeling.

What was *really* getting to him was he KNEW these film guys! The man on that mike! He'd been with him from almost the very first, a splendid archer and a mage with an ever-ready wit. That one! recruited from the burning town of Friarsbury, saved by a use of Jared's own healing spells and opted to join up, became another fairly adept mage and a passing fair warrior as well.

Those two! The twins! They'd been peasant lasses on the verge of being sold into prostitution by their destitute father when he'd passed their town. Jared had his character, Ashida, stop and...

His mind was going haywire. None of these guys were more than notations on a sheet of paper, not even worth being named! Yet their histories were now firmly lodged in his head intersecting his own.

When a D&D character hits a certain level, most of them attract a body of those who'll serve out of loyalty, friendship and honor. They were called followers, and he'd just written them down like all the other things he'd gained.

But here... These men, these women had pasts! They had hopes and cares and wishes and dreams and...

The redhaired youth shook his head, no longer sure which part was more real, Jared Saotome or Ashida Sanzennin. Jared knew nothing of these men, these women, save for their arms, experience level, and general equipage. Ashida looked over them and knew friends whose lives he had saved, and who would lay down theirs in turn for him.

*People* who were willing to fight and to die for him.

Men and women who might do just that.

Suddenly Jared/Ashida was very glad that he'd always insisted on seeing his followers were decently trained. No zero level peons here! Every man and woman in his service had been trained in a class and more often two. The majority of them had some spellcasting ability. Limited to be sure, nothing compared to his own...

But then, they'd never been there to fight things on his scale of power. They had always been there to clear away the underlings of his foes, and as minor as their spell abilities were, it gave them a distinct edge against stuff on their own playing field.

Though against youma... he was uncertain. They seemed heavily outclassed.

He signaled with Battlesign that he would link up with them later, watched as one gave an acknowledgement, then went to retrieve his girlfriends. His 'split self' spell had expired, and the one of him to have been left was the Devil Hunter, Lita still in arms. Fire trucks were pulling up with ladders, so the crowd was soon going to get down. What was going to happen with the studio vans was another question entirely. The guys were unpacking and seemed sure of themselves, though.

He'd help, but his plate was full. Lita bobbing slightly as he shifted her weight over his shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

Jared stopped when a young lady touched his arm.

"Kasumi?"

The girl let her face go slack in surprise. Beside her, Nabiki whistled. Both were looking much younger than they ought to.

"Wow, sis, where do you know *him* from?" Nabiki asked of her sister.

Jared caught sight of his mom disappearing from view as the crowds pressed away, shifting as the first ladders began hitting the island. Visibly, he calmed himself. He knew where she lived. He could leap down and beat her to the bottom, and if that failed he could catch her at her home.

Plus, he doubted she'd let any of the girls who'd been with him go so soon.

He turned more calmly to regard the Tendo sisters. "I'm sorry, Kasumi. You had a question?"

She nodded. Was that a blush? She fidgeted. "Um, well, you see... I saw you fighting youma..."

He had to laugh, lightly. "Yes, I do that." He admitted, realizing that he was still in full Devil Hunter getup, just as when he'd begun his spell.

Nabiki elbowed her sister slightly, in a companionable way. "Get to the point, sis. I think he likes you."

Kasumi blushed and stammered to an utter stop.

Jared rolled his eyes. "THANKS, Nabiki. You *know* how your sister reacts to embarrassment, why'd you have to goad her?" He stopped himself. "Actually, you're Nabiki, how could you not? Goading others is what you live for."

Both girls were now just staring at him.

He sized them up and made an educated guess. Uncomfortably aware of the girl laying limply over his shoulder, he made a bow to Kasumi and a sweeping gesture to indicate her dress. "My apologies, Kasumi. You were about to ask my help out of an embarrassing situation, weren't you? I understand. While truly a lovely dress, climbing down a ladder dressed like that could be mortifying. Might I be allowed to assist you?"

As he bowed Lita's arm flopped over his head. He adjusted it back to her side.

Jared grinned abashedly, returning upright. "Just someone I was taking back to her friends. The crowd was stepping on her and I feared for her safety." He explained, and sighed in mock hardship. "Ah, a hero's work is never done."

Kasumi giggled. Nabiki was still registering shock. Sensing this as a somewhat agreement, and all that he was likely to get in so short an amount of time, he juggled Lita carefully about his neck, grabbed a Tendo sister in each arm, and leapt down over the side of the floating island. His ears filled with shrieks. Oddly, not from the ladies he was carrying, but from the ones looking on. Kasumi and Nabiki were too busy clinging to him out of fright to get to the job of shrieking, much though they wanted to.

Before landing he threw all three women into the air above him. He landed and rolled, coming up to catch Lita and lay her gently aside, then catch Nabiki falling to him next and place her gently on her feet just in time to reach up and take Kasumi in a two armed, cradled grasp, skirt nicely tucked up and modest.

"Ooof." Quoth Kasumi, quite startled.

Setting her to her feet to his side, he tipped her a salute, grabbed Lita, and sped away. "Good day to both of you!"

The two girls stood staring after him for the longest while.

Kasumi turned to her sister. "I guess he *doesn't* need to study at our dojo, does he?"

Nabiki shrugged. "We've got to rustle up customers *some* way, sis. Even if he doesn't want to learn maybe he could teach! We'd fill every class if he came to instruct at our dojo. Dad could stay retired. *We* could even retire!"

Kasumi was a light strawberry, examining her feet. "I think mostly girls would sign up."

Nabiki smiled at her sister. "What gives you that idea?"

Kasumi took her sister's hand, dragging her off. "C'mon, let's go see if Akane or father had any luck finding students." They took about five steps before she asked. "Nabiki, why is your palm so warm?"

OoOoO

There was another set of shrieks as one of the SkyWing film crew tucked in and cannonballed off the edge of the island, rolling in mid-air before the line tucked and securely tied around his ankles went taut and bounced him away a few feet from hitting the pavement.

Two others of the film crew took running jumps off the floating island. Work at the fire ladders almost ceased to watch them as now three, then five, of the crew bounced to stops and swiftly untied themselves, dropping to the street.

A steady tide of people continued to inch down the fire engine ladders, but more slowly as the studio crew unintentionally put on a daring show of acrobatics just doing what they viewed as an ordinary task.

Ropes that secured jumpers had one set of knots released and hundreds of extra feet played out, as the ones who'd jumped now ran with the ropes to a chosen, distant point and secured them, the angle working out so that the lines now ran at what was at first a decent slope, getting steadily less severe as one neared the ground.

A natural braking mechanism.

More elves, with headbands obscuring their ears and mighty backpacks stuffed with all sorts of heavy gear, casually leaped out and grasped the lines, not with their hands, but scissored within their arms, metal bracers sliding them swiftly down the silk ropes until, near the ground, when the lines relaxed to such a gradual slope that they drifted to an easy stop, they released their holds and stepped casually off.

The center line out of five was filled with a steady stream of elves climbing hand over hand right back up to the island. As the equipment got moving, a small group had stayed up at the top while their brethren below were making certain their lines were properly braced.

That being so, pulleys, hooks and harnesses ready, they ran a van out over the side of the cliff. The ropes tied along its roof and sides took up the slack and yanked on the four descending lines they were secured to, swaying slightly but swiftly sliding the van to a slightly bumpy yet comfortably soft landing on the road below. Waiting elves untied key knots, drove the van aside, and got ready to receive the next one, which wasn't long in coming. The equipment had now been backpacked fully down and the elves arriving began to repack their studio vans.

It wasn't long and the last van had touched down with a slight bump on its tires. The elves up top began blithely jumping out and grasping lines, sliding to swift and typically casual landings.

The last elf up untied four ropes, pocketed the devices used to secure them, and retied the last and final one to a telephone pole. At his signal, the elves below leaned into a steady pull on the remaining line, pulling it taut.

The last elf up grabbed the line and slid down with his bracers, using his boot heels to pinch the silk and slow his fall as, with it being taut, there wasn't the slack and gradual slope to do his braking for him. At the bottom he hopped off and the others released their pull and the line came untied above and began to descend to the road below like cut kite string.

They packed up their rope and drove off.

Jared smirked. Who said that you can't traverse mountain, canyon and forest and still bring your elephants along? The mastodons they'd practiced that maneuver on had struggled, too.

Kasumi and Nabiki had stared at the spectacle all the while it had gone on, nor were they remotely alone. Cameras had flashed in wild flurries that not even youma assaults would merit anymore.

The activity resumed of people descending the ladders.

OoOoO

In a darkened room, secretive men met to decide the fate of the world. And a certain thing called a 'Devil Hunter'.

OoOoO

The bishonen was cooking when a single word from the television penetrated his cooking focus.

"...Saotome..."

*CRUNK* The single customer stared as the normally calm and focused chef did something unexpected. In this case, crumpling a spatula against the surface of his grill. That the boy's eyes were changing sizes was almost as upsetting.

"Uhm, is something wrong, Kuonji-san?"

The boy's eyes refocused. "Did they just say 'Saotome'?"

"Yeah," the salariman nodded, not a little fearfully. "It's been in the news for over an hour now. That new hero, the Pheonix Mage up in Tokyo, has been getting some new allies. More Sailors like Sailor V, some sorta Boomer, and 'Jared Saotome - Devil Hunter' so it's kinda..." The salariman began to edge away as a blue aura began to flicker around the chef.

"At last! I have a lead now." Ukyo went to the Righteous Declaration pose, then noticed her customer edging towards the door. "Uhm. Sorry about that. Where was this going on?"

"Azabu Juuban," said the man, giving the proper name for Tokyo's tenth district. "Near the Crown Arcade shopping mall. The morning paper's got a map with all the locations of the Pheonix Mage sightings. Oh gee, look at the time, gotta run!"

"But..." Ukyo looked at the half eaten plate of okanomiyaki. Vengeance was a dish best served cold, or so Genghis Khan had said. The same didn't hold true for okanomiyaki. Maybe food and vengeance didn't mix so well. So she had better go get her vengeance so she could concentrate. Yeah, that was a plan.

OoOoO

Mr and Mrs Lovejoy strode into their house in a rush, scaring their cat off the sofa. They noticed the TV was running and turned it off.

"Did you *see* that?" Mina's father emphasized.

The wife nodded, glad they were alone now and could talk about it. "YES! And that superspy boy did a change of costume right there before us! At first I thought he was going to go into a disguise, but all THAT ended when he said his NAME!"

The husband nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I thought I couldn't recognize his features at first too, but that ended when he just up and announced who he was! I'm sure he must have had a higher purpose about it, though."

Mrs Lovejoy put her hand to her lips to stifle a gasp. "That's it! He's here on the identity of a movie star! I'd almost forgotten that, but Mina was quite insistent, and the film crews were all there! With those skills of theirs they HAVE to belong to the Agency! So somehow this has to all tie in to that disguise of his as a popular film star!"

The husband nodded wisely. "Tell ya what, I'll call up the paper I work for and help propagate that cover story right away, that he's an actor here to film youma."

"It ties in with what he was doing." Mrs Lovejoy agreed. "Oh!" She clapped her hands in glee. "How about we say that they're going one step beyond Jackie Chan? That their moves are not only going to be authentic in doing stunts with the real actors, but that they're going to be here fighting *Actual* youma who'll *really* die!"

Mr Lovejoy reached for the phone. "My editor will LOVE this!"

Wife stopped husband. "Wait, they'll want to know how he does it. *We* know that it is because he is a superspy and has technological devices and tricks that he's able to do it. But he wouldn't want that secret to get out!"

Husband nodded sagely, then snapped his fingers in discovery. "I've got it! I'll claim that he's a *real* Devil Hunter, just using his special abilities to make a little cash on the sly. That will enforce his cover and let him slip by all sorts of real spying against the bad guys! AND the filming youma explains why his film crew has to be so rough-and-ready!"

Mrs Lovejoy clapped her hands together in glee as her husband dialed. "Oh, I approve of our daughter's choice of who to marry! Just think, we're going to have that dear boy for a son-in-law!"

Artemis peered on from beyond his cover of a furniture leg.

So this confirmed it, the boy *was* a spy, just like the film had been saying! He'd not gotten very far in that film, but the cat knew one thing for certain.

Queen Serenity had never trusted spies.

OoOoO

Soun Tendo did a spectacular spit-take that sprayed one of his daughters with tea. In true comic fashion the geyser carried a lot more tea than anyone would've thought possible.

"Thanks a lot, Dad!" Akane managed as she started wiping her face.

"Oh, finally! What a happy day!" Soun began weeping tears of joy. This wasn't unusual. Just having rice futures go up (he owned stock but wasn't sufficiently good to get rich) was cause for tears of joy. Kasumi leading the Middle School Cooking Club to victory over their rivals was enough for him to require therapy for dehydration.

"What is it, father?" Kasumi swept into the room with her fraternal twin sister Nabiki, wondering if one of their daddy's "get rich quick" schemes had actually made money this time.

Soun's gaze focused on the article dealing with "Jared Saotome, Devil Hunter" through his copious tears. "At last, at last. Now the Houses can be joined!" (After all, if he's a Devil Hunter, and a Saotome... Devil Hunting had to take martial arts, didn't it? It must mean that old sly fox Genma had another son. Maybe born on "the wrong side of the sheets" - which is why he's only mentioned Ranma!)

"The houses will be joined?" Nabiki thought about this. "Do you mean one of our neighbor's houses is up for sale then, and we're going to expand? I don't know about this. Where are we going to get the money? So far our plans to restart the dojo have been a spectacular flop."

"And no one seems interested in buying lunches at the usual offices anymore." Kasumi felt the need to put in the real cause of their recent financial woes.

"Oh WOW! What a *spectacular* BUTT that guy's got!" Akane had found a TV channel that was carrying replay coverage while her father still played with his paper.

"Pervert." The Tendo twins, Nabiki and Kasumi, muttered in unison about their older sister, who was presently adjusting her glasses to get the VCR controls going.

"Now Akane..." Soun Tendo began. "That's our only blank tape."

He was met with sorrowful eyes, as the teenager still went on with loading the machine. "But Daaaaad...?"

Soun sniffed. He was losing. "But I was going to use it to tape that documentary on the California wine industry, or that samurai film, or..." There were so *many* things actually.

"But... but..." Akane whined. "But dad! He's got the best pair of..."

Kasumi coughed over the next words. Akane scowled at her. "You don't want me to get in another of my moods, do you?"

Suddenly all the other Tendos were huddling frightfully in the farthest corner of the room, shaking in fear. "No, no! That's alright. Why don't you tape him? Then you can use the rest of the time to record more from the boy's locker room?" Soun stuttered in sheer terror, his other two daughters quavering beside him.

"Okay!" Akane chirped, turning back to the TV. "But I might have to find another public bath, though. I've got enough of the boys at my school already. They're starting to bore me." She gestured to the shelves packed with recordings.

The rest of her family relaxed.

Akane had suffered badly in the start of school. Her poor eyesight had made her an object of ridicule. So emotions had built and built until finally, studying some secret martial arts techniques to assuage her loneliness, she had stumbled across a store of the master's hidden scrolls and...

...become a complete and utter pervert.

OoOoO

It had been time to flee the scene.

Nodoka had gotten the Scouts down the ladder, and Jared joined up with them in a far more normal guise, having briefly ducked into the bushes to change out of first his Devil Hunting gear and then the RDF flightsuit he'd been wearing all morning.

He still held an unconscious Lita in his arms as they joined up.

Nodoka sized him up, a 'my son is so manly' grin in place as she noted the girl in his arms. But there was a hint of steel in her voice as well. "So, my son. Just how did you become a Devil Hunter?"

"Yeah." Echoed four girls.

Susan reappeared from wherever she'd been to. "I have an idea. Why don't we discuss this at Rae's shrine?" She motioned nearby to the not-far-distant temple.

"A good idea!" Jared enthused, starting that way so the inertia of the group would be moving instead of static.

"Mmm," Lita stirred in his arms. "Yes, Hunter-san. I'll be a love-slave for you."

Eyes popped open. Nodoka's jaw hit the pavement. Then hearts shone in her eyes and a glad smile grew wide on her face. She began to dance around waving victory fans.

"Hey! Me first!" The youth was once again plastered in females.

A small shriveled monk chose that moment to wander by. He paused and clapped his hands twice, solemnly proclaiming. "It is Fate."

Jared briefly considered running for his life. What dream was Lita having? "C'mon mom. Let's go home. We can explain everything there."

He did *not* want to be in a place where his mom could just conveniently 'leave them alone.'

It was, after all, now past time to flee the scene.

OoOoO

"So why should *I* or my village get involved?" Cologne said, sitting back and sending smoke rings out. "Japan is a long way off. I don't even see why *you* are involved considering your story of multiple timelines."

"You are, of course, familiar with the feng shui, and the 'weak points' in Reality," the cyborg said as he looked at the tea with a certain degree of longing.

"You don't get to be 300 years old without accumulating a certain degree of knowledge."

Shampoo blinked as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"They attack Tokyo because of its tie to their own power. It is slightly easier and therefore more energy efficient to invade Tokyo first. Once they have established a beachhead there, they will swarm out over the planet. Even the vaunted Chinese Amazons cannot stand against them when that point arrives."

"Years off," Cologne made a brushing off gesture. "Not to mention a logistical nightmare. I might be able to send a war party, but how much they could accomplish..."

"Don't worry, you've got time before Ranma shows up."

Shampoo's brow furrowed. What was a Luan Ma?

"Who is this Ranma, and why should I be concerned?"

"In 1992, during a tournament when Shampoo is sixteen, an Outsider Girl and her Panda show up. They start eating the first prize, Shampoo challenges her, loses, and gives the Kiss Of Death. Not realizing that the 'girl' who defeated her was actually a guy with a Jusenkyo curse. He defeats her again in guy form, but by the time she realizes the problem she's already blown her chance of winning him as a husband. Chasing him/her around while yelling death threats, followed by trying to win him in the terms of HER culture without considering HIS, well, it pretty much fouled up THAT relationship."

Shampoo stopped writing all this down as she realized that both her Great Grandmother and the Metalman were staring at her. The fifteen year old grinned sheepishly and hid the notes behind her back. "Eh-heh." Maybe she ought to learn Japanese... she hoped he was cute!

"So... the boy is a fair martial artist?" Cologne considered. If the outsider were correct and honest, and his body language DID read that way, then this information could head off a great disaster. All she had to do was keep Shampoo from challenging this Outsider when he showed up.

"You could say that. If a bit cocky, self absorbed, and much less adept at Life than at the Art. Of course, he did kill Saffron and defeat Herb, with a bit of training from you to prepare him." The cyborg shrugged. "If the village survived until then, it would help. But supposing it does..."

Cologne's eyes boggled and Shampoo considered fainting. ~A Great Warrior? Talk of demons in far off Japan was one thing, but mention two griefs close in to home and threats to the tribe...~

Shampoo started to consider faking a defeat. No, he wouldn't NEED her to do that. Hmm... She began scribbling more notes.

Cologne started considering as well when a beeping noise arose from the large sack that the cyborg had carried in. "What is that?"

The cyborg took out a small box. "Incoming message. Maybe Urd's come up with a way for me to leave this timeline. Computer: play message in Mandarin dialect."

"Incoming Message:  
to: Grey, Guardian Daemon Trainee, Fourth Class  
from: Asgard, Punitive Labor Assignment Division  
Assignment: Reconcile the Pheonix Mage and Queen Serenity as your First Labor.  
Have Fun - Ares  
End Transmission"

OoOoO

They arrived at the Saotome home to find a truck waiting on the curb before the home, their detective Keihatsu waiting beside it. In short order he'd taken out a forklift and brought a crate to the front door of the household. Before anyone knew what was up, he'd popped the lid off and started handling boxes and folders to Nodoka, who handed them to Jared, who handed them to Mina, and eventually Amy stacked them up in the dining room while Susan was filing them.

Keihatsu had an almost gleeful summary, which he rattled off while handing up boxes. "One hundred fifty pages, Genma supporting himself through petty theft and larceny during the period of a year while Ranma is enrolled at reform school in Chiba. Ranma's grades are the last five pages. He just left that area, and apparently skipped a fight if Hibiki-kun wasn't mistaken."

The detective had a grin on his face. Finally, an *interesting* client! Enough of this 'track down their lineage' garbage! This kind of dirt is what a detective lived for! Everywhere he *looked* there was evidence against this guy! He went on with a smile. "Two hundred thirty pages, details on dowries, engagements, and one skipped wedding. Interesting how most of the arrangements involved food in some manner... Seventy five pages from the Yakuza Taskforce report detailing Genma's working with *them.* Forty-four pages from certain contacts I have in the darkside (using a Japanese euphemism for criminal elements) which indicate that Genma has cheated THEM, but promised his grandsons or daughters to them as payment on those debts. Seventy nine pages, his 'vacation trip' to Izu, though your husband really shouldn't wear a speedo, ma'am. No offense. Then we've got a few temple thefts in Kamakura, only eighty seven pages. Apparently there's a curse about 'like moths to a flame' that was laid upon the two after Genma stole a small gold idol. The small gold idol, a kami of food preparation, is in with the papers. I picked it up at a pawnshop in Shinohara. Eighty-five yen, your husband should really learn how to bargain, ma'am. It was worth a hundred times that without the value of the gold. You might want to hold onto it, the bill for it is enclosed, but apparently the curse will only be lifted if one of the two in question returns it to the temple from which it was stolen. Report of a mysterious fire in Okayama, a sighting of Genma running from the shrine where it occurred, six pages. Six hundred seventy four pages, a food warehouse in Toyama - Genma Saotome seen racing away. Forty seven instances of dojos being destroyed, one included the death of a Kumon-san, all linked in some manner to Genma or his training trip, nine hundred and twelve pages. Reckless endangerment charges, uhmmff, watch it - that one's really heavy. You don't want to know how many pages."

There came a *thump* as Nodoka finally gave way and passed out from the load of shame. Several people moved to help her, but Jared help out a hand, counting aloud.

"Three, Two, On..."

His mother shot to her feet, shaking a fist and screaming aloud to the heavens while seeming to be covered in an aura of yellow flames. "GENMA SAOTOME YOU HONORLESS SON OF A DISEASED SWINE HOW *DARE* YOU MARRY INTO MY FAMILY!"

"...e" Jared finished.

He cocked both hands behind his head. "Well, I guess this means that I don't have to respect him any more, doesn't it?" He replied jauntily. 


End file.
